Enterprise zone incentives "insufficient", says Sinclair
The East Midlands' newly established enterprise zones in the offer "weak" incentives when compared to their 1980s counterparts, according to one commercial property specialist.
Chris Sinclair, director at property agent Innes England told Insider the original zones had "wider ranging benefits" than their modern-day counterparts.
Sinclair said: "There are significant differences between the enterprise zones of the 1980s and the current crop.
"The benefits that are now available are limited savings on business rates bills for occupiers, a faster broadband infrastructure and fewer planning restrictions. Whilst these incentives are welcome, they do not match the wider ranging benefits available in the zones set up between 1981 and 1996."
Sinclair added that the 1980s zones included complete exemption from business rates for all industrial and commercial property and 100 per cent tax allowance for capital expenditure on constructing, extending or improving commercial or industrial buildings.
He added: "These latter two benefits were the catalyst in encouraging developers to invest in the various zones around the country, giving rise to job creating developments which are now household names, such as Canary Wharf which brought significant economic recovery to parts of the wastelands of East London docks and Meadowhall, which was constructed on the site of derelict steel manufacturing plant."
A total of 21 new zones are set to be create across the UK, of which four will be located in the East Midlands. They will be in MIRA Technology Park, Hinckley; Northampton Waterside; Boots campus, Beeston; and Markham Vale, Chesterfield (part of Sheffield City enterprise zone).
"What we have now is far a weaker set of benefits which, collectively do not give companies the stimulus to kick start speculative development," said Sinclair.
"With the exception of a few ‘hotspots’ little, if any, speculative development is a viable proposition at the moment, but the benefits now on offer, which are targeted towards the occupier and not the developer, are just not sufficient to reinvigorate the market place."
