Black Country
Lead partners: Black Country Consortium, Black Country Local Enterprise Partnership
Size: 297 acres
Sector focus: Advanced manufacturing including aerospace, automotive and engineering and environmental technologies
Outputs: Estimated 5.4m sq ft floorspace and 3,843 jobs by 2015.
Chances of early development and jobs: Very good
A mix of 20 sites spread over the Walsall, Wolverhampton and south Staffordshire areas, the Black Country Enterprise Zone has the honour of being the first English EZ to claim a big prize – the £355m Jaguar Land Rover engine plant.
A planning application for the 800,000 sq ft plant at the i54 business park, Pendeford (see Industrial, p84), was due as Estates Gazette went to press, and construction work could begin in January. A £36m link road to the M54 will also be needed.
A public inquiry into the road scheme could slow progress. Tim Johnson, executive director for regeneration at Walsall council, confesses that infrastructure issues pose one of the EZ’s biggest challenges.
Today he is waiting for news on a £30m proposal that would unlock the Darlaston area, where 15 of the EZ sites, including many of the smallest, are located. The Department of Transport will make a decision by December.
Another £20m will fund remediation at the Phoenix 10 site. However, this was relying on money from the Regional Growth Fund that hasn’t been forthcoming.
A second headache is provided by gap funding. The answer could be the Black Country Property Investment Programme, an £8m fund that will provide a 25% grant to help businesses secure sites/premises to enable them to relocate and expand.
Target launch date is April 2012, and many fingers are firmly crossed in anticipation.
“It’s about maximising employment through maximising the supply chain opportunities,” says Johnson.
A marketing strategy is being prepared, based on common branding for all the EZ sites. Ministers are understood to be taking a keen interest in this document.
Meanwhile, Walsall is preparing a local development order, which will be approved by April 2012.
The best hopes for quick wins come from oven-ready sites such as the Abacus/Oakham joint venture close to junction 10 of the M6 motorway, in Darlaston. An 86,000 sq ft office development and a 4-acre industrial site with permission for 100,000 sq ft are ready to fly.
Property industry reaction has been enthusiastic even though, inevitably, questions have been raised about the merits of the sites chosen and the virtues of those left off the list. Early mutterings about secrecy and slow-moving plans are now largely forgotten.
Provided that infrastructure issues can be addressed, the Black County Enterprise Zone looks set for success.
Birmingham
Lead partners: Greater Birmingham and Solihull LEP; Birmingham city council
Size: 168 acres
Sector focus: Business and financial services, digital media, ICT and the creative industries
Outputs: A £2.8bn boost to the local economy and 4,000 new jobs by 2015.
Chances of early development and jobs: Moderate
Large slices of Eastside, Paradise Circus and Arena Central seem certain to be included.
As EG went to press it still was not clear exactly which Birmingham city centre sites would be included in the EZ programAs many as 28 sites could eventually be listed, says Birmingham city council’s head of development, Andrew Round. A blanket designation of the entire city centre has been ruled out.
In April, the local enterprise partnership decided that the city centre, rather than Longbridge, should be the site of its enterprise zone.
While the decision disappointed some, the balance was tipped in the city centre’s favour by the opportunity granted by the EZ to experiment with tax increment financing. This government initiative, due to be launched in 2013, allows councils to borrow against future business rates revenue.
Birmingham city council says it is preparing a special fast-track planning system for the EZ, which will be piloted with Miller/Bridgehouse’s 2.3m sq ft Arena Central scheme.
Birmingham council’s Round says: “We are also considering a local development order to complement these incentives, which could include parts of Digbeth and Birmingham Science Park (Aston).
“This LDO will look to make change of use for economic uses easier.”
The city council will submit its sites list to ministers on 14 November, together with an EZ implementation plan.
Hopes are pinned on Argent’s 1.5m sq ft Paradise Circus as the EZ’s first big win.
John Griffiths, partner at GBR Phoenix Beard, says selecting the right 28 sites will be difficult.
“Inevitably, there will be sensitivities. They won’t get the selection right on every site that’s included or excluded,” he says. “The market wants and needs clarification on what sites will have EZ status.”
Meanwhile, some wonder if the biggest danger facing the Birmingham EZ could be that people might be hoping for a little too much from the initiative.
Coventry University Business School’s Professor David Bailey warns that there is a risk of displacement as jobs and investment are nudged over boundaries into the EZ, to the detriment of neighbouring locations.
He says: “There’s a danger the EZ will become a zero-sum game. The city centre is particularly vulnerable to this risk because the service sector finds it much easier to move location than, say, manufacturers.”
