Redditch, UK: Oakland International is supporting plans for an Enterprise Zone in the Redditch and Bromsgrove area. Business leaders in the area want to press with the plans despite the Government rejecting a bid to set-up an Enterprise Zone in the area.
A key part of the plan was to support Oakland International by improving site access and infrastructure and the development of related food businesses on the site that it is estimated could create more than 1,500 jobs alone.
Bromsgrove Technology Park, town centre and the Longbridge redevelopment were also included in the submission. If the bid had been approved the area would have benefited from lower tax levels and simplified planning procedures to encourage growth and create thousands of new jobs by 2015.
But Steve Hollis, vice chair of the Greater Birmingham and Solihull Local Enterprise Partnership (LEP), said despite the rejection they were still committed to taking the plan forward. “As one of the country’s core city LEPs, the success of the Enterprise Belt is important to attracting new business and talent and also to the economic success of the Midlands and country as a whole,” he said.
“We are in discussions with Greg Clark, the newly appointed Minister for Cities, and the Deputy Prime Minister who will be chairing a Cabinet sub-group on cities, to explore alternative ways forward to achieve the LEP’s ambitious growth agenda.”
