Budget 2011 announced that Government would establish 21 new Enterprise Zones in Local Enterprise Partnership areas in England.

10 new urban Enterprise Zones within Local Enterprise Partnership (LEP) areas, including one in the Derby, Derbyshire, Nottingham and Nottinghamshire LEP area, have been announced, along with 1 Enterprise Zone for London, and a competitive tendering process for a further 10 Enterprise Zones.

The Budget set out the Government's pro-growth agenda for enterprise. As part of this, the Government's

Growth Review reports on ways that Whitehall can remove the barriers that get in the way of sustainable, private sector-led, growth. Securing economic growth requires local business, the public sector and communities to be able to act decisively to increase prosperity. The Government is embarking on a radical reform programme to enable this and to increase the focus locally on driving up economic growth. This is a far-reaching programme that tackles key barriers to local enterprise:

providing strong positive financial incentives for local authorities and communities to support and encourage local housing and business growth
supporting local enterprise partnerships to establish collaboration between public and private sector and between different authorities so economic decisions are more business-led to have the maximum impact on growth
substantial planning reform to ensure planning policy supports growth, and wider reductions in regulations to make it easier to get things done and to drive local enterprise
greater financial flexibility locally so that there is greater scope to support local economic growth through new instruments such as Tax Increment Financing
providing direct support through the Regional Growth Fund to give further help to areas where there are particular challenges or opportunities for local growth
Enterprise Zones are a powerful expression of this reform programme. Within enterprise zones much of this reform programme will be made available for the first time. This demonstrates the need to make progress fast so that local areas drive forward enterprise now.

Enterprise Zones will have simplified planning rules, superfast broadband and 100% discount on business rates for businesses for 5 years. All business rate growth from the zone will be retained and shared by local authorities in the Local Enterprise Partnership area for least 25 years. The Government is also considering the scope for special capital allowances to support zones with strong emphasis on high value manufacturing.

Follow this link to download a copy of the Enterprise Prospectus published on the 24th March.

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