TWO of the four new Enterprise Zones approved by the Government are based on key railway locations, and in Birmingham the area includes the proposed High Speed Rail station.
The announcement came just before the consultation on the route of High Speed 2 ends today. The imminence of the deadline has promoted a final flurry of claims from both sides of the HS2 debate.
The official go-ahead was given for zones in Birmingham, Bristol, Leeds and Sheffield. The Department of Business, Industry and Skills and the Treasury said the zones would 'accelerate local economic growth and could create over 24,000 new jobs by 2015. The zones will benefit from discounts on business rates, new superfast broadband, lower levels of planning control and the potential to use enhanced capital allowances'.
In Birmingham the new zone will occupy more than 68 hectares in the city centre’s Eastside – and it's around the Curzon Street site earmarked for the terminus of HS2 as well as the existing Moor Street station.
The zone is expected to create 40,000 new jobs in business and financial services, digital media, and the creative industries, including 4,000 new private sector jobs, by 2015.
The government said it was takng a 'radical approach' to the planning process, which would be streamlined.
The Birmingham zone 'will harness the opportunities presented by the proposed High Speed 2 stop, which would cut journey times to London to 49 minutes, to attract business into the city centre'.
In Bristol the new zone – known as the Temple Quarter Zone – is to be centred on Temple Meads station. The government said it expects 198 new businesses within the zone, with 80 trading by 2015 and creating almost 4,000 new jobs. It explained that 'creative industries and technology will be key target investors'.
Two more Enterprise Zones have been approved near Leeds and Sheffield, where they would both be linked with the M1.
The locations of a further ten Enterprise Zones will be announced shortly, the government added.