Humber enterprise zone

In the 2011 budget, it was announced that the government would establish 21 new enterprise zones in local enterprise partnership (LEP) areas. The first 11 LEPs that would benefit from the zones were announced along with a competition for the further 10 enterprise zones in the remaining LEPs.

The Humber LEP board met on 23 June 2011 and decided on the size and nature of the enterprise zone they wished to see in the Humber LEP.

The results of the competition for the second round of enterprise zones were announced on Wednesday 17 August 2011. Across England, twenty seven LEP areas applied to have an enterprise zone and 11 were successful.  This means that there are 22 enterprise zones in England’s 27 local enterprise partnerships.

The 11 Enterprise Zones announced on 17 August 2011 are -

The benefits of enterprise zones

Businesses occupying the new enterprise zones will benefit from -

• 100 per cent business rate discount worth up to £257,000 over a five year period for businesses that move into an enterprise zone during the course of this parliament
  
  
• all business rates growth within the zone for a period of at least 25 years will be retained and shared by the local authorities in the local enterprise partnership (LEP) area, to support LEP economic priorities and ensure that the returns from enterprise zone growth are reinvested locally
  
  
• government and local authority help to develop radically simplified planning approaches in the enterprise zone, for example using existing local development order powers
  
  
• government support to ensure that superfast broadband is rolled out throughout the enterprise zone, achieved through guaranteeing the most supportive regulatory environment  and, if necessary, public funding

Some enterprise zones may also benefit from the use of enhanced capital allowances.

The Humber enterprise zone (the Humber renewable energy super cluster)

The rationale of the Humber enterprise zone is the area’s potential to create up to 12,500 direct jobs within a fast growing sector which forms a key strand in the government’s ambition to renew British engineering and manufacturing capability.  Indeed the scale of the Humber developments could see the area being an internationally important hub for the offshore wind energy sector.

The Humber enterprise zone is based on two sites -

• North Lincolnshire - Able Marine Engineering Park (AMEP)
  112 hectares - Able Humber Ports Ltd (AHPL)
  136 hectares
   
  Total size of ‘South Bank’ of the Humber enterprise zone is 248 hectares
  
  
• Hull - Alexandra Dock (Green Port Hull) and Queen Elizabeth Dock
  78 hectares - Alexandra Dock (Green Port Hull), owned by ABP
  49 hectares - Queen Elizabeth Dock, owned by ABP
  
  Total size of the ‘North Bank’ of the Humber enterprise zone is 127 hectares

The total size of the Humber enterprise zone is 375 hectares making this the largest enterprise zone in England.

Expected benefits of the Humber enterprise zone

Under the local enterprise partnership's preferred scenario of four original equipment manufacturers (OEM) locating into the super cluster, 4,854 direct jobs could be created.  This consists of 3,354 jobs on the OEM site on the south bank and 1,500 on the OEM sites on the north bank.  These calculations have been made based upon employment area density multipliers.

For example, it is anticipated that by April 2015 -

• 1,500 jobs will have been created at the enterprise zone sites within Hull, with 2,300 by 2022
  
  
• Hull’s off-zone sites servicing parts of the supply chain will produce 1,700 jobs, with 1,857 by 2022

At this stage it is difficult to estimate the total number of direct jobs which could be generated by the supply chain, however, applying the above multipliers would give a range of between 2,000 and 8,000 subject to the uptake of land.

Next steps

The Humber enterprise zone (along with all the other enterprise zones in England is expected to be ‘up and running’ in April 2012.  Between now and then the Humber local enterprise partnership has to complete a number of activities, including -

• the introduction of a local development order across the entire enterprise zone in order to simplify planning in the zone
  
  
• deciding whether and how business rate discounts and enhanced capital allowances will be used to incentivise companies to set up in the enterprise zone
  
  
• putting in place delivery arrangements in relation to the zone and in particular, the governance and management arrangements that will take the zone forward