2. News and blog
3. News and Blog
4. 2011
5. September 2011
6. 22 September 2011
7. Welsh Enterprise Zones named

Welsh Enterprise Zones named

Welsh Business Minister Edwina Hart has identified the preferred locations for the first five Enterprise Zones in Wales.

They will be:

• Cardiff Central Business District - with a particular focus on the financial services sector
• Ynys Mon – focused on the energy sector
• Deeside – with a focus on the advanced manufacturing sector
• St Athan – with a focus on the aerospace sector
• Ebbw Vale – with a focus on the automotive sector.

The minister said: “As part of our economic policy agenda we will be introducing Enterprise Zones in Wales. However, let me be clear at the outset, this is not a replication of previous Enterprise Zones, which evaluation has shown had very mixed results.

“We will take a bespoke approach to each location and will deploy a selective approach to the policy interventions, using some in some locations and not in others.

“We have an opportunity to take a targeted approach in Wales and design a bespoke Welsh solution that doesn’t just automatically replicate the approach taken in England.”

Meanwhile, in a separate but related development, Jaguar Land Rover (JLR) has announced plans to create up to 750 jobs at a new factory at i54, a regional development site of 91 hectares next to Junction 2 of the M54 some three miles from Wolverhampton in south Staffordshire.

Staffordshire County Council, South Staffordshire Council and Wolverhampton City Council made a joint bid to Jaguar to site the factory at i54 which is in one of the Government’s planned new English Enterprise Zones.

Roger Milne

22 September 2011