The Chancellor announced today (Wednesday 25th November) that New Anglia Local Enterprise Partnership and its local authority partners have secured one of the Government’s prestigious new Enterprise Zone sites for Norfolk and Suffolk, which will help to create 18,500 jobs in the 25 year lifetime of the zone, including 5,000 jobs by 2021.
And in a double success a bid to extend the existing Great Yarmouth and Lowestoft (New Anglia) Enterprise Zone, has also been approved which will mean space for an additional 30 businesses and deliver a further 1,219 jobs.
Enterprise Zones deliver a wide range of benefits to companies including a business rate discount of up to £275,000 over five years, simplified planning and access to Superfast broadband. More than 60 bids were submitted to Government from across England with 26 new and expanded Enterprise Zones announced today.
The successful bids were announced as part of George Osborne’s Autumn Statement. The new zone will be developed across 10 locations in Suffolk and Norfolk, under the theme of “Space to Innovate.” Each site will focus on the counties key innovation sectors and supply chains where it has specialist expertise and knowledge. This includes world-leading agri-tech, food and health, offshore energy, ICT and digital and creative sectors and the development of the Green Economy.
The sites will act as a powerful magnet to attract new businesses, particularly overseas companies, looking to capitalise on the counties’ expertise in these sectors. The sites will also link with the region’s innovation centres, universities and the New Anglia Growth Hub to boost innovation, productivity and help to deliver high skilled jobs.
The sites, which will be ready for development in March 2016, are based in rural locations and smaller towns, as well as Ipswich and Norwich, to spread economic benefits across the two counties.
The ten locations are:
Norwich Research Park, Norfolk – a 25 hectare site next to the B1108, south of Norwich. Enterprise Zone status will help support spin-out businesses in the food, health and plant science sectors
Nar Ouse Business Park in King’s Lynn, Norfolk – a 12.4 hectare site on the southern edge of the town adjacent to the A47, that will link to the King’s Lynn Innovation Centre, currently under construction. This will stimulate new businesses and attract international businesses in the agri-tech, engineering and food production sectors.
North Norfolk
- Scottow Enterprise Park in Coltishall, – a rural site of 26 hectares to the south of Scottow and Lamas Roads, where part of the site will have Enterprise Zone status to focus on businesses in the creative digital and low carbon sectors.
- Egmere Business Zone – a 7.4 hectare rural site south of Wells-Next-The-Sea which will focus on the Offshore Energy sector. It is located close to the Sheringham Shoal windfarm and two further windfarms being developed off the coastline
Suffolk Business Park, Bury St Edmunds – a 14 hectare site on a new business park which will be developed to the east of Moreton Hall.
Greater Ipswich, Suffolk – a cluster of sites to support the delivery of the newly developed Ipswich Vision, the blueprint for the regeneration of the town.
- Futura Business Park – a 10 hectare site to the east of the town to help focus on higher value and more productive sectors and prevent displacement of retail from the town centre.
- Princes St – a 2.9 hectare office corridor which connects the railway station with the town centre and will focus on ICT, digital and professional services businesses.
- Sproughton Road – a 14 hectare site between the A14 and Sproughton Road, in the Babergh district area provides excellent access to the A14 and huge potential for businesses in the agri-tech, food and health sectors as well as their supply chains
- Waterfront Island – Two hectares of port land separating the Wet Dock from the tidal river with part of the Island given Enterprise Zone designation
Mill Lane Business & Enterprise Park in Stowmarket, Suffolk – a 17 hectare extension of the existing Food Enterprise Zone, located on the edge of the town, with strong links to existing local food manufacturers
The Enterprise Zone will also link with three new Food Enterprise Zones in Suffolk and Norfolk, which were announced in March 2015, and will create vital economic hubs for the industry. The Orwell and Gipping Valley Food Cluster in Suffolk and Greater Norwich Food Cluster in Norfolk, will increase collaboration between the food, drink and agricultural sectors, bring better connectivity to the supply chain and encourage greater links with skills and agri-tech research.
The extension to the existing Great Yarmouth and Lowestoft (New Anglia) Enterprise Zone, covers existing sites at Beacon Park and South Denes Energy Park in Great Yarmouth, and Mobbs Way and Riverside Road in Lowestoft.
This zone has been developed to help energy-related companies and their supply chain grow across six sites in Lowestoft and Great Yarmouth and has delivered more than 1800 jobs over 3 years.
The second round of Enterprise Zone bids was announced by the Chancellor, in the summer. The Norfolk and Suffolk bid was submitted by New Anglia LEP in September 2015, working in close partnership with local authorities and other delivery partners.
Caroline Williams, Chief Executive, Norfolk Chamber said: “Norfolk Chamber has been lobbying hard and supporting the business case for further enterprise zones in Norfolk. We are delighted that the Government has listened and created more opportunities for the business community to deliver economic growth and jobs within our region.”
Mark Pendlington, Chairman of New Anglia LEP said: “This is fantastic news for companies locally, nationally and internationally looking to capitalise on the expertise of the East – from world-class food and health research, our thriving all-energy sector and innovation in ICT and digital – this zone will be a magnet for inward investment, help create thousands of jobs and drive our productivity. A great boost for businesses and another great economic prize, deservedly won by Norfolk and Suffolk.”
Cllr Nick Daubney, Leader of the Borough Council of King’s Lynn & West Norfolk, said: This is excellent news for West Norfolk and I am delighted that our bid has been given the go ahead. Being designated as an Enterprise Zone will bring a range of benefits that will help to stimulate business growth and aid the removal of physical barriers to achieving that growth in the area – bringing more jobs and opportunities for the people of West Norfolk and beyond. King’s Lynn will be promoted regionally, nationally and internationally as a place to do business and that enhanced marketing will bring further investment which can only be a good thing. The new King’s Lynn Innovation Centre is on track for completion next year providing further support for business development. Exciting times for King’s Lynn.”
Cllr Graham Plant, the leader of Great Yarmouth Borough Council, said: “One of the borough council’s priorities is to work with partners to build on creating conditions for further private and public investment, ensuring the borough is best placed to capture growth and its benefits for local communities.
“The extension of the existing Enterprise Zone, which is targeted at the energy sector, is great news and will also be extending opportunities for businesses to relocate to and expand within the borough, which has prospects of sharing in £50bn of investment in energy in the East of England over the next 20 years, including in oil and gas exploration, gas platform decommissioning, nuclear, and offshore wind farms.
“This announcement reflects huge Government confidence in the regional and local economy. Beacon Park is already one of the most successful Enterprise Zone sites within the country, and we look forward to building on that success to date. The borough council would like to thank New Anglia LEP for their support.”
