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Government unveils new Enterprise Zones and offers enhanced capital allowances

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The government has announced the location of 11 new Enterprise Zones across the UK as part of its plan to accelerate local business growth and create 30,000 new jobs by 2015.

Unveiled in the March Budget, Enterprise Zones offer simplified planning rules, super-fast broadband and more than £150m worth of tax breaks for new businesses over the next four years.

The government initially planned to create 21 Enterprise Zones: 11 in the UK's largest cities and a further 10 to be awarded after reviewing applications from Local Enterprise Partnerships (LEP).

However, the strength of applications from LEPs was such that the government has increased this allocation to 11, including zones in Cornwall, Leicestershire and the Humber Estuary.

In addition, the government has announced today that it will make enhanced capital allowances available for plant and machinery investment in Enterprise Zones in Assisted Areas, including the Tees Valley and North East.

With effect from 2012, companies setting up in these areas will be eligible to claim enhanced first year allowances for plant and machinery, giving them an upfront cash flow benefit.

The Prime Minister, David Cameron, said: "We are determined to do everything we can to make Britain the best place in the world to start and grow a business.

"Enterprise Zones are a major step towards delivering this; cutting business taxes, easing planning restrictions and giving business the tools they need to invest and expand. These new Enterprise Zones will be trailblazers for growth, jobs and prosperity throughout the country."

Communities Secretary, Eric Pickles, added: "Too many of our towns and cities have been left behind, but the answer has never been to impose ineffective sprawling regional structures. It is local business and commerce that drive the private sector growth, jobs and wealth this country needs.

"This government's job is to foster local enterprise and create the conditions for businesses to thrive in. That is why low tax, low regulation Enterprise Zones are being planted across the country and will give businesses all the incentives they need to grow their local economy and create thousands of new local jobs."

The second wave of Enterprise Zones will be located in:

  • Humber Estuary Renewable Energy Super Cluster
  • Daresbury Science Campus in Warrington
  • Newquay AeroHub in Cornwall
  • The Solent Enterprise Zone at Daedalus Airfield in Gosport
  • MIRA Technology Park in Hinckley Leicestershire
  • Rotherwas Enterprise Zone in Hereford
  • Discovery Park in Sandwich, Kent and Enterprise West Essex in Harlow
  • Science Vale UK in Oxfordshire
  • Northampton Waterside
  • Alconbury Airfield, near Huntingdon in Cambridgeshire
  • Great Yarmouth in Norfolk, and Lowestoft in Suffolk.
The previously announced zones were: Leeds, Sheffield, Birmingham, Bristol, Liverpool, London, Manchester, Derby, Nottingham, the Black Country, the Tees Valley, the West of England and the North East.
Business