Enterprise zone "will not be game changer", says LEP chair
The Black Country's enterprise zone is "more of a sweetener than a game changer", the chairman of the LEP has told Insider.
Stuart Towe said the real benefit of the zone was "fairly minimal", but added that businesses would want to be there regardless.
The LEP began with what Towe describes as a "hiccup", as it only got the go-ahead in the second round and failed to win any Regional Growth Fund investment in the first round of bids.
However, the LEP overtook some of its rivals when it was announced the area would receive an enterprise zone, which would give businesses relaxed planning regulations, superfast broadband and tax breaks.
The Treasury recently approved the i54 site at Wolverhampton together with supply chain opportunities around the former James Bridge Copper Works in Darlaston as the official zone location.
Aerospace firms Moog and Eurofins are already i54 tenants and Jaguar Land Rover’s planned new engine plant has long been earmarked to anchor the complex.
Towe said: "The real benefit of the enterprise zone is fairly minimal. It is more of a sweetener than a game changer. You would want to be there anyway."
He added that there would have to be some sort of cross-boprder co-operation between the LEPs on issues such as transport, planning, education and skills.
He said: "We want to get more people into Birmingham for the retail and professional services and all the other good things we rely on them for, such as access to the airport and station, which is intrinsic to the success of the Black Country. But, similarly, there are aspects of our own manufacturing base that we need people to come out of Birmingham to be visiting.
"It’s a two-way street. Birmingham is the hub; we and Coventry & Warwickshire are the spokes in the wheel."
