PROPOSALS for two Enterprise Zones in the North East will be submitted to Government later this month. While the direct business incentives are relatively modest – certainly more modest than the zones created in the 80s and 90s – there’s a significant opportunity to promote our region to global investors and generate a 25-year income stream to invest in regeneration.

Already we know that the proposal in the Tees Valley, developed by the Local Enterprise Partnership (LEP), Tees Valley Unlimited, challenges Government to approve a broad ranging series of incentives and sites that test the original prospectus.

And we should expect that proposals from the North Eastern LEP, covering Durham, Northumberland and Tyne and Wear, will be similarly ambitious.

The support of business will be crucial in ensuring Government commitment to proposals from our region, and that will require a clear demonstration that three key concerns have been addressed – deliverability, displacement and demand.

Any zone proposals must be deliverable in very testing timescales. Business rate incentives will only apply to businesses locating in the zones by April 2015, setting clear boundaries of what is achievable.

Enterprise Zones need to be delivering genuine business growth and job creation. It is no good if these new zones promote the displacement of viable businesses across an arbitrary border simply to benefit from the available incentives. This becomes a zero-sum game for our region’s economy and a wasted opportunity.

Lastly, the zones have to be grounded in realistic commercial potential. There must be business demand for the zones avoiding any ‘build it and they will come’ approach.

The deadlines enshrined in the Government’s policy simply don’t allow for that luxury.

It remains curious that the Government has insisted on a three-month window from this year’s Budget to develop proposals lasting for over two decades and it certainly sets a daunting early challenge for the new LEPs.

Yet, there remains the opportunity for the North East to see Enterprise Zones emerge that demonstrate our ambition and act as a genuine catalyst for growth.

:: Andrew Sugden is director of membership and policy at North East Chamber of Commerce