FPB: Enterprise Zones “must meet local needs”
The enterprise zones due to be unveiled in this year’s Budget must offer different tax breaks depending on the need of the local area, the Forum of Private Business (FPB) has said. Chancellor George Osborne announced at the Conservatives’ spring conference that the Government will create an initial ten enterprise zones, giving businesses in potentially high-growth and less wealthy areas tax breaks and simpler planning rules. The aim is to encourage businesses in these regions to start up and grow. The scheme is a smaller-scale version of the first enterprise zones launched in 1981 by Michael Heseltine. FPB research projects manager, Thomas Parry, said that the zones have the potential to drive growth if a flexible approach is used. “There should not be a rigid set of rules, because t... »