Thousands of pounds of taxpayer money was spent developing bids for an “Investment Zone” in Bradford before Rishi Sunak’s Government pulled the plug on the Liz Truss era scheme.
As part of her plans to boost growth, Liz Truss announced plans to create numerous Investment Zones – areas where businesses would pay reduced business rates and taxes, in her short stint as Prime Minister.
The planning rules would also be relaxed in these zones, with the expectation that businesses would rush to invest in areas once red tape was refused.
A clarion call went out to Councils and Mayoral Authorities to draw up bids for such zones last Autumn.
Proposed zones in Bradford would include the Southern Gateway – a large section of the city centre between Manchester Road and Leeds Road, and a site near the M606 near the former Richard Dunn Centre and Odsal Stadium.
The zones were discussed at a meeting of West Yorkshire Combined Authority in November, where members were told all Mayoral Authorities had been ordered by Government to submit a list of possible sites for Investment Zones within 10 days.
Other sites proposed for West Yorkshire include the Clifton Business Park area near Brighouse, Dewsbury Riverside, the Stansfield Road area of Castleford and the Chidswell area near Batley.
At that meeting officers said it was uncertain whether the Investment Zone scheme would still go ahead with the new Rishi Sunak Government having just been installed.
At a recent meeting of Bradford Council, Council bosses were asked what the latest was on the Bradford Investment Zones, The Council Executive responded: “The Government announced in the Autumn Statement in November that existing expressions of interest would not be taken forward.
“This included an expression of Interest submitted by council for an investment zone in the district via the West Yorkshire Combined Authority.
“Announcements and briefings have confirmed that Investment Zone policy will instead be refocused on a limited number of high potential knowledge-intensive clusters designed to leverage the research strengths of universities with a focus on ‘left behind areas.’ “Further announcements from Government on Investment Zones are expected around the time of the Spring Budget.
“Officers continue to liaise and work with both the university sector and West Yorkshire Combined Authority.”
Recent estimates by the Local Government Association suggest each Council that put forward a bid could have spent up to £30,000 worth of officer time formulating those bids.
A Bradford Council spokesman told the Telegraph & Argus the local bid likely cost the Council around £20,000.
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