Telford confirms interest in Government Investment Zone status
Telford & Wrekin Council has expressed an interest in becoming one of the Government's 'Investment Zones'.
The confirmation comes a day after neighbouring Shropshire Council revealed it would not be expressing an interest over its concerns about the impact of the status on control over planning decisions.
The moves follow the Government inviting Mayoral Combined Authorities (MCA) and Upper Tier Local Authorities (UTLA) in England to submit expressions of interest in introducing one of the zones in their area.
Councillor Lee Carter, Telford & Wrekin Council's Labour Cabinet Member for Neighbourhood Services, Regeneration and the High Street, said they were keen to explore the opportunity, but that any agreement would have to maintain environmental and planning standards.
He said: "We have got a strong track record in Telford & Wrekin of bringing investment into the borough using our own initiative.
"The Telford Land Deal, council growth fund, and the support we have given to local businesses has seen us bring over 34 hectares of brownfield site back into use and create 1,900 jobs in recent years.
"There is still a lot of uncertainty surrounding Investment Zones and how planning reform will impact them.
"We are clear that any investment into the borough will need to be of a high environmental standard and have all the required on and off-site infrastructure, but we have submitted an expression of interest as an upper tier local authority area and will explore any opportunity that an Investment Zone could bring to the borough."
Telford's Conservative MP, Lucy Allan, said she welcomed the move.
She said: “Investment Zones are designed to encourage and drive local economies across the country by creating jobs and opportunities for residents for years to come.
"The zones will focus on lowering taxes and liberalising planning rules to encourage rapid development and business investment.
"I wrote to the Chief Executive of Telford and Wrekin Council on September 23 encouraging him to formulate a bid proposal and I am pleased that they have now done so.
"I met with the council to discuss their proposals for a Telford Investment Zone and I will formally be supporting the council’s bid.”
Speaking yesterday Dean Carroll, Shropshire Council’s cabinet member for growth and regeneration, said the authority did not believe the current plan for investment zones would work for them.
He said: "Investment zones will be a perfect fit for some areas, particularly where they have large brown field sites.
"But the necessary re-interpretation of planning is something that does not necessarily sit comfortably with Shropshire Council while we are going through the process of establishing a new local plan.
"The investment zones appear, on the information currently available, to be geared more towards enabling development by unlocking difficult planning issues, rather than providing outright the infrastructure."
