Regeneration in Greater Manchester: Airport City off to a flier
THE introduction of Enterprise Zone status at Airport City and Daresbury Science & Innovation Campus is proving to be a draw to new investors, but only due to the strong fundamentals of each location.
The Enterprise Zones offer incentives to potential occupiers that include a discount on business rates worth up to £275,000 over a five-year period, a light-tough planning regime and access to superfast broadband.
Mike Davies, chairman of Manchester Airport Group, said that the £690m Airport City scheme was already attracting a lot of interest. “Obviously it is early days. We had the launch in January and it has attracted a considerable number of enquiries –– with 2,500 hits on the website and 20 firm enquiries for R&D facilities, office space and hotel enquiries. At this stage, we would say the interest is healthy.”
Whether or not this is directly due to its Enterprise Zone status is open to debate, as the scheme was in the pipeline for several years beforehand. However, with both of the region’s Enterprise Zones they were chosen not only because of the unique nature of their offer – meaning the potential for displacement is reduced – but also because they offer the greatest potential uplift in tax receipts, meaning the local authorities can plough back revenues into other projects.
“The economic benefits of the Enterprise Zone are an additional fillip but the greater economic benefit is the retention of those rate savings in the wider region,” said Davies.
John Downes, managing director of Langtree Group, which is the private sector delivery partner at Daresbury Science and Enterprise Campus, agreed.
“It’’s the retention of business rates that allows the local authority to draw down financial resources to put the infrastructure in to make the facilities available,” he said.
He added that he felt the financial incentives on offer to potential tenants were pitched “about right”.
“It’’s making the decision easier for smaller businesses, which are nervous about scaling up because of impact on P&L. It should be irrelevant to a larger business really, which wants to be there for the right reasons.”
Adam Robson, assistant director at Drivers Jonas Deloitte, said that to an inward investor, the financial incentives on offer at Airport City were not the overriding attraction.
“MAG’’s ambition and strategy is clear,” he said. “The success of the scheme is yet to be seen, however few other locations can offer the level of connectivity to local, regional and national and international business markets, which means that Airport City has more than one USP with which to attract occupiers.”
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