23 August 2011

Eleven new Enterprise Zones announced

The locations of a further eleven Enterprise Zones, designed to boost local growth and create over 30,000 new jobs by 2015, have now been announced by the Chancellor.

The Chancellor’s statement follows his earlier announcement in this year’s Budget of an initial 11 Enterprise Zones in some of the country's largest cities, including Manchester, Birmingham, Merseyside and Newcastle, bringing the total to 22. The aim is to attract new start-up firms, with simplified planning rules, super-fast broadband and over £150 million worth of tax breaks over the next 4 years.

The second wave of Enterprise Zones will be located in:

• 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
• Enterprise West Essex in Harlow
• Science Vale UK in Oxfordshire
• Northampton Waterside
• Alconbury Airfield, near Huntingdon in Cambridgeshire
• Great Yarmouth in Norfolk
•  Lowestoft in Suffolk

Alongside the new Zones, the Government is also announcing today that it will make enhanced capital allowances available for plant and machinery investment to a limited number of Enterprise Zones in Assisted Areas, including the Tees Valley and North East. With effect from 2012, companies setting up in these areas will be eligible to claim enhanced first year allowances for plant and machinery, giving them an upfront cash flow benefit.