Outlined as part of the Government’s Plan for Growth, announced at the 2011 Budget in March, the Enterprise Zones have been erected to encourage local growth and create over 30,000 new jobs by 2015.
The locations of 11 Enterprise Zones were revealed in March, including some of the UK’s largest cities: Birmingham and Solihull, Sheffield City Region, Leeds City Region, Liverpool City Region, London, Greater Manchester, West of England, the Black Country, Derby and Nottingham, Tees Valley and the North East.
Now the Government has revealed the location of the remaining Enterprise Zones, plus an additional one, which will benefit from a range of measures including a 100 per cent business rate discount worth up to £275,000 over a five year period for businesses moving into an EZ; simplified planning procedures within the zone; roll-out of super-fast broadband.
The additional 11 EZs are:
Humber Estuary Renewable Energy Super Cluster
Daresbury Science Campus in Warrington
Newquay AeroHub in Cornwall
The Solent Enterprise Zone at Daedalus Airfield in Gosport
MIRA Technology Park in Hinckley Leicestershire
Rotherwas Enterprise Zone in Hereford
Discovery Park in Sandwich, Kent and Enterprise West Essex in Harlow
Science Vale UK in Oxfordshire
Northampton Waterside
Alconbury Airfield, near Huntingdon in Cambridgeshire
Great Yarmouth in Norfolk, and Lowestoft in Suffolk
Encouraging growth
Cameron, said: “We are determined to do everything we can to make Britain the best place in the world to start and grow a business.
“Enterprise Zones are a major step towards delivering this; cutting business taxes, easing planning restrictions and giving business the tools they need to invest and expand.
“These new Enterprise Zones will be trailblazers for growth, jobs and prosperity throughout the country.”
Business Secretary Vince Cable added: "Local Enterprise Partnerships have worked closely with businesses in their communities to put forward a range of high-quality proposals. The successful bids they will now take forward are going to help inject new growth into their economies.”
Ministers have urged those areas that missed out on being named an EZ to ‘remain ambitious and pursue innovative ideas to foster local enterprise,’ adding that councils have the power to implement a simplified planning regime for themselves.
The Government added that it is keen to launch EZs in Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland if the devolved administrations agree.