Staffordshire LEP mounts bid for Enterprise Zone
LOCAL Enterprise Partnership leaders in North Staffordshire are to make a bid to the Government for an Enterprise Zone centred on the Etruria Valley.
The area missed out on EZ status last month when Chancellor Gorge Osborne announced that the two zones for the West Midlands would be in Birmingham & Solihull and The Black Country.
However, business leaders in Stoke-on-Trent and Staffordshire said their area was equally deserving of special status and have voted unanimously to submit the bid the coalition.
The LEP said EZ status would improve the profile of the area and pave the way for new investment and jobs.
The submission of interest needs to be with Government by the end of April, and further guidance will then follow to help the LEP shape and fine-tune its bid.
EZ will deliver: reduced rates for businesses; increased capital allowances and relaxed planning regulations.
The LEP board has said it is determined to succeed in its bid and the partnership said the move had been boosted after it became the only LEP area in the West Midlands to win two Regional Growth Fund bids – one for Alstom UK’s energy research and development operation in Stafford, and the other for the Prince’s Regeneration Trust regeneration of Middleport Pottery.
The LEP said by combining these with an Etruria Valley EZ, it would create an area of North Staffordshire ripe for new development.
LEP vice-chairman Stephen Burgin said a rigorous review of 17 possible sites across Staffordshire had been carried out and the agreed proposal offered the best solution for maximising investment opportunity and job creation prospects.
“All the board members are united in our determination to put growth and prosperity centre stage for Stoke-on-Trent and Staffordshire,” he said.
“Together we can build a bid that will deliver opportunities for business to establish, grow and develop.
“Our Enterprise Zone submission will provide the focus and flexibility entrepreneurs need to thrive. Our plans are big, bold and ambitious and cut across boundaries. Stoke-on-Trent and Staffordshire means business.”
An announcement on where the zones are to be located in Birmingham & Solihull and The Black Country is expected shortly.
