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Funding bid to focus on marine, aerospace and defence industries
Funding to the tune of £59 million to help enterprise zones has been unveiled, two years after ministers insisted direct funding was not needed.
The Solent Enterprise Zone, on the former Daedalus site, will be eligible to bid for a slice of the money, which can be used to build link roads, reconfigure the site, install utilities such as electricity and water, or to reclaim contaminated land. Bids for infrastructure loans can be made by either LEPs, or by individual developers.
Communities secretary Eric Pickles said it would allow successful bidders to turn ‘shovel-ready sites into job-ready sites‘ and trigger economic growth.
However, Labour MP for Southampton Itchen, John Denham, criticised the time lapse: ”The opportunity to get growth going has been thrown away by cuts in regional funding and failure to support enterprise zones effectively.”
In 2011, the Government was criticised for claiming the only help that zones required to succeed were generous tax breaks, to encourage companies to move in, compared to the original enterprise 1980s and 90s zones, which received a total of £386m in capital costs, mainly to buy land and build infrastructure.
The 24 zones, spread across 142 sites, offer tax incentives and have simplified planning rules, as well as superfast broadband, in a bid to attract businesses. The 82-hectare Solent Enterprise Zone aims to build on nearby hi- tech companies in the marine, aerospace and defence industries. A marine slipway will be re-commissioned to provide direct access for marine businesses to Southampton Water.
Plans for a new training centre which will provide hundreds of places at the Solent Enterprise Zone have been lodged by Fareham College. It has submitted a planning application for a proposed new Centre of Excellence for Engineering, Manufacturing and Advanced Skills Technology to be based at the Zone. If approved, the centre will house open-plan engineering workshops, classrooms, a learning resource centre and café, as well as conference and exhibition space for local employers. Subject to approval, the new centre is scheduled to open in September 2014.
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Representing a £12m investment in engineering skills, the site is intended to provide industry-standard training facilities to support manufacturing skills with a focus on aeronautical, marine, electrical, automotive and mechanical engineering. The move is supported by an agreement which sees the College take eight acres of land from the
Homes and Communities‘ Agency (HCA), which owns much of the Enterprise Zone site.
The centre would provide training for around 400 students in courses ranging from foundation level to higher national diplomas.
Peter Marsh, deputy principal of Fareham College, explained: ”Our dynamic new centre combines an exciting frontage onto Broom Way, with state-of-the-art learning spaces and facilities. Submission of this application marks a major milestone in our vision of helping to support a sustainable future for the advanced engineering and manufacturing sector in the Solent area.”
Gary Jeffries, director of the Solent Local Enterprise Partnership, which is responsible for delivering the Enterprise Zone, said: ”The services and facilities it is set to provide will be of real benefit not just to school leavers, but to businesses on the site.”
Plans to attract advanced aerospace and aviation companies to the Solent Enterprise Zone have received a further boost thanks to an investment by the HCA, which has acquired the airfield from the Maritime and Coastguard Agency (MCA). It has plans to invest in improvements to the runway and associated facilities.
The £1.52m investment will provide extra confidence to specialist companies that are based on or moving onto the site. Previously, access to the airfield was limited under a temporary lease. The move has been welcomed by businesses currently based at the Enterprise Zone. Steve Ford, managing director of Sapphire Aviation, said: ”Knowing our access to the airfield and runway is guaranteed means we can plan for the future, in confidence we will be able to use the facilities and grow.”
The HCA is creating a plan for management of the runway and facilities at the airfield during the next few years. It also hopes to secure a licence for the airfield which would allow it to be used for a wider range of activities and by a wider range of craft.
Peter Cusdin, development director at the HCA, continued: ”The acquisition provides a real degree of certainty for existing occupiers and other businesses potentially moving to the Enterprise Zone. Add this to other benefits of the site, such as the existing local skills‘ base in the area, business rate discounts for employers moving to or expanding on the site, investment in infrastructure and planned on-site training facilities, and we really are on track to create a hub for advanced engineering and aerospace businesses in south Hampshire.”
THE BUSINESS MAGAZINE – SOLENT & SOUTH CENTRAL – APRIL 2013
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