Wolverhampton council bosses fight decision not to extend i54 business park

Wolverhampton's Labour leader Roger Lawrence has revealed that despite a pledge by the Chancellor for more Enterprise Zones the one in Wolverhampton, considered to be the most successful in the country, is not in line for a proposed expansion.

This does not stop the site being made larger but would limit the ability of councils to use the money from the sale of land and business rates to fund improvements.

Wolverhampton City Council had wanted to see land off Wobaston Road, which falls within South Staffordshire, given the same incentives that the rest of the zone had for new businesses.

Land has been set aside for new businesses but they will not get business rate relief the way that firms on other Enterprise Zones do unless an extension is granted.

The council had also been able to use the Enterprise Zone to keep the rates paid by the likes of Jaguar Land Rover, rather than send them to central government, and fund the extension of the M54 motorway slip roads.

The project, carried out in partnership with Staffordshire County Council and South Staffordshire Council, was a major attraction for JLR, which has built a £500 million engine plant and is bringing 1,400 jobs to the site.

The plan is for more space to be set aside for business use on land off Wobaston Road but the councils want the same attractions for companies to set up there.

One of the incentives is that councils and businesses in Local Enterprise Partnerships get to keep the business rates to invest in infrastructure.

City Labour leader Councillor Lawrence said: "We will be going to the new Government because they are refusing to extend the i54. We submitted a business case that was not successful

"The site is the most successful Enterprise Zone in the country and we are pushing to get that extension."

During the General Election campaign at the end of April, Chancellor George Osborne used a visit to Westley Plastics in Cradley Heath to unveil plans to repeat the jobs success story of the i54 business park with new incentives for companies in Walsall, Dudley, and Wolverhampton in a new wave Enterprise Zones.

Before the General Election the Government announced new zones as well as extensions to others such as the Motor Industry Research Association Technology Park in Nuneaton.

But the Black Country's site and the i54 were not on the list.

However the Chancellor did suggest new Enterprise Zones could back the industrial strengths of the West Midlands, and that further zones could be created in 'Wolverhampton, Walsall or Dudley, and potentially elsewhere'.