Humber EZ ‘will have regional benefits’
BUSINESS and council leaders need to make sure that the benefits of the country’s biggest enterprise zone are felt beyond the Humber, according to a Government Minister.
Communities and Local Government Minister Greg Clark visited the Humber yesterday in the wake of the local enterprise partnership’s successful bid for a 374 hectare enterprise zone focused on attracting renewable energy manufacturers.
He told TheBusinessDesk.com: “I think the strength of the Humber bid will give benefits beyond the actual LEP boundaries.
“This will be a leading force in Britain, not just within the region itself. I think the authorities and LEPs that are neighbouring will benefit from this and one of the messages I want to send to the LEP’s leadership is they should work closely with their neighbours to ensure everyone can benefit.”
The success for the Humber was contrasted with disappointment for the York and North Yorkshire LEP which had hoped to host an enterprise zone on the Scarborough Business Park.
Mr Clark said: “I would encourage those areas that weren’t shortlisted and didn’t get the accolade of an enterprise zone to reflect on the powers LEPS have to create areas that may not be enterprise zones in that they don’t benefit from business rate relief but may benefit from things such as simplified planning.”
The Humber enterprise zone is forecast to create 5,000 jobs in the next four years but Mr Clark said it was the nature as well as the number of jobs that was important.
He said: “The level of financial investment being made means these will be long term jobs. These are jobs people can depend on to build their careers on and justify the investment in training.”
