Member Article

Enterprise Zone announcement set to help Tees Valley realize economic ambitions

Tees Valley Unlimited Managing Director Stephen Catchpole believes the regions enterprise bid “will be a great boost to business”.

Through the development of the 12 designated sites across the Tees Valley, the region will move a step closer towards realizing its economic ambitions.

Stephen is now calling for businesses in the region to take advantage of the opportunities this announcement will present.

“The competition we need to now be looking at isn’t on a local level - we now need to be looking globally.

“There are a number of global companies which are here already, but now we have the opportunity to act more to establish ourselves as a world cluster.”

The zones will offer financial incentives to attract investment and it is hoped that up to 3000 jobs will be created in the areas by 2015

Tees Valley Unlimited Chairman, Sandy Anderson said; “This is just the outcome we wanted.

“In laying the foundations for the long-term transformation of the region, approval of the Enterprise Zone is another significant tool to help us achieve our goals.”

The sites included I the scheme include Oakesway, NorthShore, Darlington Central Park and St Hilda’s. These will offer simplified planning regimes to support the development of small and medium enterprises. These businesses will be supported by industries already in the region, including petro-chemical, renewable energy, advanced engineering and digital industries.

Tees Valley is also one of a small number of areas nationwide, which can additionally offer large-scale occupiers enhanced capital allowanced against the cost of their plant and machinery.

Stephen added: “TVU, our partners and stakeholders have received strong commendation for the long-term plan that we presented as it demonstrated an appreciation of our industrial heritage and identified sectors in which we can and should be growing including the new and exciting digital sector.

“The Government’s priority is to achieve delivery within a shorter timescale up to 2015 and therefore we have worked together to agree a plan that will both achieve results and give us the foundation on which to build our long-term transformation of the Tees Valley.

Sites put forward for the Tax Increment Finance Scheme to fund infrastructure and site preparation can now be funded either by income generated by the Enterprise Zone or local prudent borrowing.

This was posted in Bdaily's Members' News section by Ruth Mitchell .