The government has revealed plans to increase its infrastructure investment in enterprise zones by £100 million.
Eric Pickles
A total of 13 enterprise zones have been selected to receive funding for 18 projects to build car parking, service roads and other infrastructure. The goal is to “transform shovel ready sites into job ready sites.”
The successful proposals were selected following a competitive bidding process, and will now undergo further testing to ensure they will provide value for money for taxpayers.
Three thousand new jobs have already been created in enterprise zones. They have attracted 126 businesses and generated 105,000 square metres of new commercial floor space. In addition, nearly £229 million in extra private sector investment has been raised.
Along with these amounts, five enterprise zones are receiving £24 million to take on the issue of bottlenecks and traffic congestion through funding provided by the Department of Transport.
Communities Secretary Eric Pickles said,”Enterprise zones are stimulating job creation and economic growth in different parts of the country with their special package of incentives to attractive new business ventures.
“The government is putting its money where its mouth is and making sure enterprise zones have the buildings and infrastructure they need to make sites ready for business to set up in.
“Enterprise zones are proving extremely popular with business – they have already created over 3,000 jobs for local people – a 75 per cent increase in just 5 months – and many more will be coming down the pipeline because of this new support.”
The recent announcement is one of a number of steps the government is taking to provide support for local businesses and create jobs.
The government has established 39 local enterprise partnerships along with enterprise zones, which will be able to access funding through vehicles such as the Growing Place Fund and the Regional Growth Fund.
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