Jamie Oliver’s latest project, Fifteen Cornwall, has received a £1m cash injection from the South West of England Regional Development Agency (RDA).

Fifteen Cornwall, which will open in May 2006, will train 20 youngsters from disadvantaged backgrounds to work as the restaurant’s staff.

The £1m will be used to convert the area on the top floor of the Watergate Bay hotel, near Newquay, into a restaurant.

Stephen Bohane, RDA head of operations for Cornwall, said: “It [the project] will promote Cornwall’s food and drink sector.”

The lucky Cornish students will undertake 50 weeks of on-the-job training at the restaurant and 12 weeks of full-time college education, followed by a month-long work placement elsewhere. 

Fifteen Cornwall follows the success of Fifteen in London and Amsterdam, and there are plans to open a forth in Melbourne.

All the Cornwall restaurant’s profits will go to the Cornwall Foundation of Promise to be reinvested into the Fifteen project.

The news comes just weeks after Jamie Oliver was crowned the world’s favourite TV chef by BBC Food magazine.

By Amanda Smith

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