£67m i54 business park to change hands

A £67 million business park owned by the taxpayer is to be transferred to government control as doomed regional development agency Advantage West Midlands is shut down.

The i54 in Wolverhampton was recently declared an Enterprise Zone by the government offering relaxed planning laws, a business rate holiday and superfast broadband to whoever takes it on.

It is currently being touted as a possible home for Jaguar Land Rover which is considering opening an engine plant in either Wolverhampton or India.

AWM, which spent £300 million a year, is being scrapped.The government decided to get rid of regional development agencies and replace them with Local Enterprise Partnerships, where a small group of businesses and councillors assist firms to apply for a share of a £1.4 billion regional growth fund.

This is instead of than employing vast armies of regeneration experts at public expense.