Daresbury wins Enterprise Zone status

DARESBURY Science Campus in Warrington has been granted Enterprise Zone status by the Government.

The area – home to a raft of high-rech firms already – joins Manchester Airport and Liverpool Waters as the North West’s third Enterprise Zone.

Businesses locating there will benefit from tax breaks, speedier planning rules and super-fast broadband.

Daresbury is one of the last 11 Enterprise Zones, designed to boost local growth and create over 30,000 jobs by 2015. The proposal was a joint bid from the Greater Manchester and Liverpool City Region LEPs.

The announcment means applications from Cumbria, Cheshire and Warrington and Lancashire have lost out in their bid for Enterprise Zone status, but ministers are urging areas that missed out “to continue to pursue innovative ideas to foster local enterprise”.

Prime Minister David 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: “Enterprise Zones are creating an environment for businesses to grow in places with the most potential. Those the government is announcing today, on top of those already approved, show the range of ambitious plans in place across the country.
 
“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.
 
“Across England, these Zones will generate new jobs, investment in areas that can benefit, and develop high-tech products that will secure long-term sustainable prosperity.”

Cheshire and Warrington LEP had submitted a bid to host an Enterprise Zone at the Omega Business Park in Warrington, while Cumbria had submitted a bid for a “low carbon” energy Enterprise Zone split over two sites at Barrow Waterfront and at Lilyhall in West Cumbria.

Lancashire’s LEP had submitted a bid for an advanced manufacturing zone based around two BAE Systems sites at Samlesbury and Warton.

George Beveridge, chairman of the Cumbria LEP, said: “We are very disappointed by this decision as we believed we had put forward a strong bid. 

“We believed this was a tremendous opportunity to stimulate the development of key industrial sites in West Cumbria and Barrow.

“That said, the LEP board is particularly keen to build on the work that has been done by partners in developing the proposals and will continue to work with key stakeholders to realise the potential of these sites. 

He argued that some of the features of the zones such as superfast broadband and simplified planning structures could be introduced without Enterprise Zone statues.