Chancellor gives the go-ahead for East Midlands Investment Zone
Chesterfield’s economy is set to receive a major boost, following confirmation by the Chancellor of a new Investment Zone in the East Midlands.
Rachel Reeves used her first budget speech to confirm the £160m East Midlands Investment Zone scheme, which will support advanced manufacturing and green industries.
The East Midlands Combined County Authority now hopes the funding will soon be made available to spread over ten years at three sites in the region.
One of the proposed sites is the Hartington site in Staveley, a site close to the already successful Markham Vale business park, just off J29a of the M1. The land set to be developed includes the former Staveley Chemical Works site and former Hartington Colliery site.
The investment zone sites have been designated to support growth in green industries and advanced manufacturing, with developments to provide a boost in jobs and economic activity for the area. The designated sites will provide a series of tax benefits to companies which occupy them, and the Hartington scheme will also benefit from Business Rate Retention mechanisms.
Mayor of the East Midlands, Claire Ward, welcomed the news. She said: “This is great news and I’m delighted the government has recognised the potential for our region to lead the country in green industry growth.
“The East Midlands Investment Zone will help us turbocharge our economy, attracting major investment and creating opportunities for businesses and residents and thousands of high- quality new jobs and apprenticeships for local people.
“As a combined authority we can work at a regional level to deliver opportunities like this across the East Midlands and make this the best region in the country to live, work and learn.”
Councillor Tricia Gilby, Leader of Chesterfield Borough Council and Vice-Chair of Destination Chesterfield also welcomed Government’s confirmation of the East Midlands Investment Zone, adding: “Government’s confirmation of support for the new East Midlands Investment Zone is fantastic news for Chesterfield – paving the way for us to work with partners and landowners to incentivise and accelerate delivery on these key sites, to create more jobs, more business start-ups and more houses.
“The Investment Zone will bolster the council’s existing £2billion growth programme, and through the incentives on offer will create major opportunities to attract new green technology and advanced manufacturing businesses to these former industrial sites and hundreds of new high-quality jobs for local people.”
Find out more about the current investment opportunities available in Chesterfield, and why our town creates an ideal environment for business growth: https://www.chesterfield.co.uk/business/invest-in-chesterfield/
