Recently in Enterprise Zones Category

George Osborne opened up his piggy bank this lunchtime. Heaving the national level stuff to one side here's what Osborne's budget will mean for the regions:

And there it is, ladies and gentlemen. Another MIPIM is drawing to a close. Final meetings are concluding and preparations for dinners and parties are underway.

It's half past five in the London Pavilion and it's rammed. The tuesday afternoon arrivers have descended in their masses and an already buzzing MIPIM feels like it is off and running at full pelt (cold and grey weather must be playing a part in encouraging people indoors too).

Cardiff's central business district had been doing so well. The property industry seemed to like it.  Cardiff and Co, the marketing company behind it, seemed to be saying and doing all the right things; and the council seemed to have its head screwed on and be heading in the right direction.

We've trawled the web this week for the top regional stories so you don't have to. Here's what the local sites have been talking about this week.

The announcement of the final 11 enterprise zones dominated the news but not all have been singing the praises of the scheme. The Prime Minister insisted: "These new enterprise zones will be trailblazers for growth, jobs and prosperity throughout the country".

But there has been debate about whether the zones promote growth and prosperity across the UK, or merely widen the gap between rich and poor areas?.

Evidently, there has been much support for the scheme in areas such as Hampshire, Oxfordshire and Kent, which all had EZ's approved. Jo James, executive of the Kent Invicta Chamber of Commerce, expressed her approval in an interview for Insider South East

In a similar vein, thebuisnessdesk.com in Yorkshire showed how the project's largest enterprise zone near the Humber should, with proper regulation, have regional benefits as well as benefiting the immediate area.

The Birmingham Post, too, ran an optimistic article estimating that 46,000 jobs will be created in the West Midlands.

However, not all are happy about the EZs, with some of the strongest concerns expressed in Wales where there aren't any EZ's. The Leader reflected on how Welsh councils are trying not to lose out on tax-breaks and job creation.

Peter Chapman is head of rating and compensation at Cluttons and doesn't greet the announcement of more Enterprise Zones with quite the same enthusiasm as some.

It feels slightly like Groundhog Day. Another day, another zone. The Government spin machine has not taken an August break, it would seem.

In the three months to June this year, a nasty surprise of an extra 38,000 people unemployed (did that many people really have to produce Royal Wedding tea towels?).

On the same day David Cameron - taking a rest from managing 'Broken Britain' - announces the second wave of enterprise zones designed to kick-start the fragile economy: 30,000 new jobs in hi-tech industries. To add to areas of Manchester, Birmingham and Newcastle there are now parts of Warrington, Cornwall, Hampshire, Leicestershire, Hereford...in fact, is any part of England not in an enterprise zone nowadays?

The final new zone is in Northampton which will concentrate on precision engineering. That helps when you produce shoes.

According to the PM, "these new enterprise zones will be trailblazers for growth, jobs and prosperity throughout the country...cutting business taxes, easing planning restrictions, and giving business the tools they need to invest and expand."

Now, who can deny this doesn't sound impressive? If you throw enough money at something, the situation is bound to improve. Or, so goes the logic. Sadly, I remain a tad cynical. What happens if, rather than creating 30,000 new jobs in new businesses, existing businesses start to lose staff who might be attracted into sexier industries in the new zones? Will we see another skills shortage?

Related post:
New Enterprise Zones announced - details and coverage round up

This morning the government announced a further 11 Enterprise Zones in England chosen from the 27 which applied. These continue with the aim of targeting locations with growth potential and particular areas of expertise adding to those already announced earlier in the year. The government aims to have 21 zones in total.

The zones chosen are:

Warrington - Daresbury Science Campus 

Liverpool Daily Post reports on how it is hoped the 28ha zone will attract science and technology jobs

Cornwall - Newquay Aerohub at Newquay airport

Insider South West talks about the expected job growth in the aerospace sector and the unsuccessful zones

Gosport - Former HMS Daedalus site

Local plan has site earmarked for marine, aviation and aerospace industry according Portsmouth Times

Norfolk - Six areas within Great Yarmouth and Lowestoft

Zone is expected to target energy related industry and the Norwich evening news reports on job growth expectation, wider benefits to the area and has an interview with LEP chair Adam Wood.

Hereford - Rotherwas Park

Business Desk West Midlands reports on the sites defence business growth potential.

Kent - Discovery Park, Sandwich

KentOnline reports on how the former Pfizer site was rejected in the first round of bids and the focus will be on pharmaceutical businesses and R&D.

For a company who's sole reason for being is marketing Wales' capital city Cardiff and Co have kept a remarkably low profile.

But over the last week or so they've exploded into action. Today they've been love bombing our inbox with a release calling on developers to bring forward plans for a new convention centre (there's no release up on the website as yet but I'll post a link here when it appears). It is part of a wider £160m investment in Cardiff's Central Business District to make the Welsh capital the best regional capital in Europe by 2015.

It will open up the heart of the city, pull down the existing bus station, revamp Cardiff Central train station, as well as add four million sq ft of offices all on a stretch of 140 acres running from the  bus station, past Callaghan Square and on to the Bay. Phew!

Agents have known the (albeit very) sketchy details of this plan for years so why the fireworks now? Well, maybe it's just the right time for Cardiff and Co or maybe, just maybe, regeneration bods in Wales are just a little bit spooked about the introduction of Enterprise Zones in England. You make up your own mind.

There are clearly some who are worried in Wales, where the government has yet to allow enterprise zones, that it will fall behind. After all, Bristol, just a stone's throw away, has put forward two potential zones at Avonmouth and Temple Quay, and some are already trying to exploit loop holes in legislation to start up their own enterprise zones.

Cardiff and Co were in London on Monday in a bid to drum up investor support but there probably won't be diggers in Cardiff any any time soon. Around £60m is being pledged by the council and they're expecting the private sector to dig into its pockets for the remaining £100m. That it reckons should cover the convention centre but the rest? Well beefing up its presence in less than four years isn't going to come cheap.

Related posts:

Business leader calls for Barry to be Wales' first Enterprise Zone

Alex Smart talks spec building in Cardiff and losing that Admiral deal

Is that Cardiff or Monte Carlo?

Picture by KuroSugarLolita on Flickr