ITEM 4 – ENTERPRISE ZONES Background The Coalition Government announced plans in the 2011 Budget to create 21 Enterprise Zones in Local Enterprise Partnership (LEP) areas in England. All Enterprise Zones will benefit from: • A business rate discount worth up to £275,000 per business over a five year period • All business rates growth within the zone for a period of at least 25 years will be retained by the

local area, to support the Partnership’s economic priorities and ensure that Enterprise Zone growth is reinvested locally

• Government help to develop radically simplified planning approaches for the zone using, for example, existing Local Development Order powers

• Government support to ensure that superfast broadband is rolled out throughout the zone, achieved through guaranteeing the most supportive regulatory environment and, if necessary, public funding.

The first 11 areas that will benefit from an Enterprise Zone have been announced and a competition for a further 10 Enterprise Zones is being held, with LEPs being asked to submit expressions of interest by the end of April. The county council and a number of district authorities recently commissioned a strategic sites study which identified a number of potential locations which could be considered as suitable for major employment development. The consultants were subsequently asked to consider the evidence from the study and identify the particular sites that would best meet the criteria for Enterprise Zones as set out in the Enterprise Zones Prospectus. This report, along with the full Strategic Sites study and Enterprise Zone Prospectus can be found at www.hertfordshireLEP.com in the Documents section of the website. The Chair wrote to Local Authorities across Hertfordshire indicating that it was the LEP’s intention to proceed with the recommendations in the report. No appeals were made against this decision. Subsequently the LEP has submitted an expression of interest to Government highlighting the two preferred locations for an Enterprise Zone, namely Maylands in Hemel Hempstead and Gunnels Wood in Stevenage. Both Dacorum and Stevenage Borough Councils will then be asked to prepare outline proposals by the end of May for the LEP Board to consider and decide which proposal will be endorsed for final submission at the end of June. Summaries of the two proposals are attached. In order to provide adequate scrutiny to this process it is proposed that a small sub-group of the Board is convened to review the proposals and make recommendations to the LEP Board.

ITEM 4 – APPENDIX1

Hertfordshire Enterprise Zone @ Maylands: Ready to Go

Bid Outline - May 2011

Hertfordshire Enterprise Zone @ Maylands: Ready To Go Introduction Rebalancing and growing the UK economy requires areas like Herts – net contributors to UK PLC but underperforming even prior to recession – to maximise growth over the next five years and beyond. As part of a national network of enterprise zones geared up to meet local challenges, the HEZ@Maylands offers a unique opportunity to stimulate business growth – 2500 jobs in the first five years – in key and sustainable sectors – and 10,000 new jobs in the long run. We propose an EZ of just over 160 ha (see map) to maximise impact and cover a wide range of businesses, sites and investment opportunities. Ready to Go – What’s currently in place

1. Superb location advantages – access direct to Junction 8 of the M1 motorway, 5 minutes from M25 Junction 21, Heathrow Airport 30 minutes, Luton Airport 20 minutes and Stansted under an hour

2. A range of development and inward investment opport unities , including: 23 ha at Maylands Gateway; a mix of undeveloped land, vacant units and underutilised space; and underperforming space/businesses with huge potential.

3. The Maylands Masterplan – adopted by DBC in 2008, bases development around a series of five character areas including a business park opportunity at Maylands Gateway (development brief in place), a regenerated ‘heart’ of Maylands (feasibility study and development brief also completed)

4. The Maylands Implementation Plan - a comprehensive, costed and prioritised programme of action including a five year physical improvement plan comprising new landscaping and public realm enhancements on the key routes at Maylands. With Herts CC we have developed a Sustainable Transport and Access Strategy and a series of projects ready for implementation - these include an area green travel plan for Maylands and park and ride/parking proposals. This work underpinned our recent joint bid with HCC to the Local Sustainable Transport Fund for West Herts.

5. An active Green Energy programme – DBC has entered into a partnership with Renewables East to access ERDF funding to establish a Green Energy facilities at Maylands. The ‘Low Carbon Development Initiative’ commenced in 2010 with a project to install photovoltaics (PV) panels on businesses’ roofs, followed this year by a combined heat and power plant project to supply the business park and nearby housing - existing and planned.

6. A new Business Incubation Centre – the Maylands Business Centre has just been completed and will open in June 2011. It offers 10 serviced offices and 18 light industrial units on easy in-easy out terms. It will be a centre for business advice and support and there is already interest from a range of support agencies including Business Link, Business Rescue, Jobcentre Plus and the Princes Trust

7. Experience with Local Development Orders – we have successfully completed consultation on an LDO covering Maylands to give businesses freedom to install PV panels and supporting works for green roofs without the need for planning permission- one of the first of its kind in the UK, and we now have the skills in-house to carry out further LDO work.

8. Strong and established Governance arrangements – The Maylands Partnership of a range of local businesses - from blue chip to SMEs – was set up in 2002 and has at its core implementation of the Masterplan. DBC host a multi-agency Maylands Implementation Team including Herts County Council, St Albans City and District Council, EEDA and subsequently Herts LEP.

From this platform we can hit the ground running.

For Hertfordshire, HEZ@Maylands would offer 1. An inward investment package . We can offer a Greenfield development opportunity for

business at the Maylands Gateway on 23 ha of prime, prominent land on the approach to Hemel Hempstead from the M1. The land is all in public ownership between DBC and HCA. DBC is facilitating a mixed use development at the Heart of Maylands with a strong business component. This will allow 270 housing units , two consented hotel developments (263 rooms) and a significant increase in commercial space. Vacant sites offer around 10 ha of development land and vacant private sector space of around 50,000 sq m is ready for ready take-up.

2. A one stop shop business development offer . This can run from day 1 at Maylands Business Centre. Adding new resources to DBC’s own longstanding economic development service the new offer would incorporate site identification and assistance with the planning process, business support and marketing/investment enquiry service. The service could be pivotal to the LEP in delivering its countywide inward investment offer and the ‘one stop shop’ model could cover the County: the EZ proposal offers this to the LEP. It would provide a much needed resource allowing UKTI along with any other source, including direct business contact, to feed in information requests, for which a fully inclusive ‘Hertfordshire wide offer’ would be provided giving a best possible chance of investment in the County. Business support partners have already committed to having a presence within the Maylands Business Centre and networking meetings, seminars and other events would be opened up to businesses throughout Hertfordshire.

3. New business incubation , support and expansion through the recently completed Maylands Business Centre. DBC owns further land adjacent to the Centre which can be used for expansion. Maylands has a network of other, privately run serviced office premises and a wide range of commercial units which provide opportunities for move-on accommodation.

4. Easing the planning burden. Using its experience, DBC will be proactive in bringing forward new LDOs which may cover the removal of planning controls in some cases, and reducing the expensive and time-consuming burden of detailed evidence submission through an area wide set of pre-prepared policy compliance statements.

5. Targeted growth on key sectors by intelligent use of LDO and Business Rate Discount. In particular we will develop a sliding scale of discounts relative to growth sectors.

6. Balanced growth including low carbon, advance manufacturing, national and international HQs as well as logistics and supply chain location.

7. A skills partnership – with a commitment for outreach throughout the County – incorporating business, West Herts College, University of Herts and other key skills and academic institutions such as BRE and Ashridge. DBC is developing a Strategic Skills Strategy in partnership with key organisations including Job Centre Plus and the University of Hertfordshire (UoH) and business partners, to improving the skills base of employees to match labour supply to growth sectors, increase business performance and develop employability projects to address unemployment.

8. A low carbon/renewable energy cluster taking advantage of existing green initiatives such as Combined Heat and Power, a permissive LDO for photovoltaics, participation in Plugged in Places together with the University of Herts, an existing green travel initiative over the entire zone, a local strategic partnership commitment to retrofit 20,000 homes in Dacorum over five years with energy saving measures including installation of PV to 5000 council homes, using the partnership agreement we are concluding with Renewables East.

Overcoming Barriers What will we need to succeed? We have identified three constraints:

1. Transport. We would seek to deliver the whole of the recent £1.5m Local Sustainable Transport bid for West Herts recently submitted by Herts CC. We would also seek the

acceleration of the NE relief road which is in HCC’s Local Transport Plan 3, using developer and partnership contributions. Sustained investment will be required to run an express bus service linking Hemel station, town centre, St Albans station and town centre and Hatfield, thus providing much needed east west links. We foresee an initiation cost of £1m over 5 years.

2. Image. The appearance of Maylands, with its links to Buncefield and worn infrastructure and public realm, would be tackled by a combination of infrastructure investment and environmental improvements – already set out in the masterplan – and positive marketing using its new status as an enterprise zone.

3. Land Use Flexibility . We will revise key planning policies to enable, where appropriate, business development to be cross-subsidised by higher value uses that are complementary to the Business Park.

HEZ@Maylands – meeting Herts LEP priorities In addition to the governance proposals which have the LEP at their heart the following can be achieved:

• A possible business rate uplift of £1.5m per annum by year five, £3m by year 10 and a peak of £6M by year 20

• Delivery of all or part of the LEP inward investment strategy through the Maylands Business Centre

• Achieving accelerated growth in the key priority sectors for Herts LEP • Tailoring the sector growth to complement, rather than compete, with other key

employment growth opportunities • Working with University of Herts, and their pioneering work through Evalu8 Ltd, a

commitment to help develop open innovation on low carbon, and maximising the use of ERDF resources for the County.

• Helping deliver the skills agenda, with commitment by businesses within Maylands Partnership to taking/sharing graduate placements alongside developing the skills for future jobs.

• A significant impact on the CO2 reduction commitment of the LEP through the development of green business and the practical delivery of substantial retrofit activity.

ITEM 4 – APPENDIX 2 An Assessment of the Pros and Cons of Enterprise Zo ne proposals in Stevenage Mr Viv Evans Head of Planning Regeneration and Transport Stevenage Borough Council

5 May 2011 Opening Statement

I. The following are the views solely of the Head of Planning Regeneration and Transport. Because of time constraints it has not been possible to secure the comments of the Senior Management Board of the Council or of any elected members.

II. Stevenage Borough Council would expect to be formally consulted before any proposals are submitted to government for the creation of an Enterprise Zone within the Borough.

III. There currently remain a number of important and significant issues which the Council would wish to consider in detail before coming to a view on whether to support an Enterprise Zone relating to Gunnels Wood

a. The potential loss of planning controls within the Zone raise serious concerns having regard to the proximity of Gunnels Wood to the centre of the town

b. The council has sought over many years to create a successful and attractive environment for the business and enterprise within the town and does wish to place this dynamic area in any jeopardy.

c. Consultation with existing businesses within the potential zone is considered essential.

d. The potential financial consequences to the council need to be explored in detail prior to any decision to formally propose an Enterprise Zone based on Gunnels Wood

IV. I set out below my analysis of the options currently being considered by the Hertfordshire Local Enterprise Partnership

Criteria Whole of Gunnels Wood &

Knebworth Innovation Park (KIP)

(as proposed by LEP)

Part of Gunnels Wood & KIP

(Potential SBC alternate proposal*)

Size x >200 ha. Exceeds Government’s preferred size of 50-100ha.

� Could be tailored to meet Government requirements.

‘Clean site’ � Proposed Knebworth Innovation Park (KIP) offers significant (31ha) ‘clean site’;

� Further 9ha of ‘clean site’ development ongoing at GSK;

x Almost entire remainder of Gunnels Wood is occupied.

� KIP offers significant (31ha) ‘clean’ site;

� Further 9ha of ‘clean site’ development ongoing at GSK;

± Would also include some occupied land but ‘clean’ element would be a greater proportion of site.

Ownership � KIP in single ownership (Knebworth Estate) who promote development;

� Ongoing development at GSK;

x Highly fragmented ownership throughout rest of Gunnels Wood, majority in private ownership.

� KIP in single ownership (Knebworth Estate) who promote development;

� Ongoing development at GSK;

± Alternate boundary potentially reduces number of landowners.

Genuine � Strong base in R&D � Strong base in R&D

Criteria Whole of Gunnels Wood & Knebworth Innovation

Park (KIP) (as proposed by LEP)

Part of Gunnels Wood & KIP

(Potential SBC alternate proposal*)

growth (incl. Glaxo) and advanced manufacturing (EADS, MBDA) = Major opportunity to build on existing strengths;

� Previous estimates suggest 7.5k net new B-class jobs from KIP / Glaxo / town centre / leisure park.

(incl. Glaxo) and advanced manufacturing (EADS, MBDA) = Major opportunity to build on existing strengths;

� Previous estimates suggest 7.5k net new B-class jobs from KIP / Glaxo / town centre / leisure park.

Full support of partners

± KIP site straddles boundary with NHDC. Attitude to EZ not known;

± KIP site accessed directly from J7 of A1(M). Attitude of Highways Agency not yet known but have previously been cautious.

± KIP site straddles boundary with NHDC. Attitude to EZ not known;

± KIP site accessed directly from J7 of A1(M). Attitude of Highways Agency not yet known but have previously been cautious.

Simplified planning

± No objections in principle but issues to be resolved include: � LDO permitting

inappropriate development in the Green Belt (see below);

� LDO covering two local authority areas;

� Use of multiple or zone-based LDOs for different parts of Gunnels Wood; and

� SSSI protected site at Knebworth Woods (adjacent to KIP), and Environmental Impact Assessment requirements.

± No objections in principle but issues to be resolved include: � LDO permitting

inappropriate development in the Green Belt (see below);

� LDO covering two local authority areas;

� Use of multiple or zone-based LDOs for different parts of Gunnels Wood; and

� SSSI protected site at Knebworth Woods (adjacent to KIP), and Environmental Impact Assessment requirements.

Economic Profile

• What types of business there are currently located on the site? Life sciences, High tech manufacturing & engineering, small scale start-up businesses,

Criteria Whole of Gunnels Wood & Knebworth Innovation

Park (KIP) (as proposed by LEP)

Part of Gunnels Wood & KIP

(Potential SBC alternate proposal*)

general manufacturing, environmental technologies, general offices (Strategic Sites Study Page 74, March 2011)

• What types of businesses might we wish to attract (sectors)? High Knowledge including Life sciences, environmental technologies, advanced manufacturing, creative industries, banking & finance, distribution, and start up businesses.

• What number of jobs could be created on the site? 3000 cited within the Gunnels Wood Area Action Plan

Some key bullet points that we know:

• Stevenage benefits from having a very strong knowledge based economy with 63.1% of people employed in knowledge intensive sectors, this figure is 22% above the regional average and 20% above the national figure. (Calculated from the Annual Business Inquiry Employee Data, September 2010)

• Stevenage has one of the largest employment sites within the region with the ‘Gunnels Wood Business Park’ area employing more people than any other area in the county. The area has high levels of knowledge based firms with a particular cluster around advance manufacturing.

• Many of the sectors where Stevenage has key employers such as in advanced engineering and Pharmaceuticals fall within industries that are considered important growth areas in the Hertfordshire Economic Strategy, and are therefore seen as core areas to focus future investment to support growth.

� The majority of enterprises in Stevenage are small organisations employing less than four employees. These account for over 80% of the active 2765 enterprises in the area.

� Local planning

� Gunnels Wood designated as Employment Area for B-class use in adopted District Plan;

x KIP site lies in Green

� Gunnels Wood designated as Employment Area for B-class use in adopted District Plan;

x KIP site lies in Green

Criteria Whole of Gunnels Wood & Knebworth Innovation

Park (KIP) (as proposed by LEP)

Part of Gunnels Wood & KIP

(Potential SBC alternate proposal*)

Belt. No quick mechanism to remove following demise of SBC Core Strategy and joint working on SNAP.

Belt. No quick mechanism to remove following demise of SBC Core Strategy and joint working on SNAP.

* No precise boundary has been agreed for an alternate proposal. The map on the following page details a number of sub-areas in and around Gunnels Wood. It is considered that a ‘pick and mix’ approach using some / parts of these could create a proposal more closely aligned to the Government’s criteria.