OKEHAMPTON should bid to become one of the Government's 21 new Enterprise Zones to help preserve jobs in its crisis-hit food industry, says the managing director of Browne's Chocolates.
Joe Keohane said though the deadline for Local Enterprise Partnerships to submit formal bids had just passed, the Heart of the South West LEP, which covers Devon and Somerset, should take advantage of the subsequent decision period to go back to the Department for Communities and Local Government with a fresh proposal.
The LEP has presented expressions of interest in creating Enterprise Zones in Plymouth, Exeter and Torbay, and an outline proposal was prepared by regeneration agency North Devon +, after the Government indicated it was open to proposals for non-urban Enterprise Zones.
Okehampton's food industries have suffered as a result of the economic downturn, with the series of redundancies at Polestar, Robert Wiseman's Dairies and Browne's itself, and with the recent news that Kerry Ingredients is likely to close its plant in March 2012.
Browne's Chocolates closed in March with the loss of 20 workers but was bought the following month by Mr Keohane and business partner Nick Baker, who previously ran the successful Sharp's Brewery at Rock in Cornwall before selling it for £20-million. Production has since restarted at the factory.
Mr Keohane said: 'The Chancellor announced in this year's budget that the Government wanted to create 21 Enterprise Zones, with lower business rates and simplified planning rules, to help the private sector drive growth in areas which are struggling economically.
'Eleven have already been named, but there's a competition to find the other ten, and the bids must come from Local Enterprise Partnerships.
'There are four key criteria: real economic opportunity, strategic fit, long-term viability and minimising displacement, meaning excessive local competition. Okehampton ticks all those boxes, its food businesses have thrived for decades, until the recession – but will again, I firmly believe – and it's in the ideal place, in the heart of a county producing some of the finest food in Britain.
'Browne's success, with new jobs already created and more in the pipeline, proves this town has what it takes to succeed, and an Enterprise Zone would help safeguard existing jobs and attract new employers.
'Okehampton's case is as strong as anyone's. Just because this isn't an urban industrial area or one dependent on threatened public sector jobs doesn't mean there isn't deprivation here, and skills Devon can't afford to lose.'
Enterprise Zone benefits would include a business rate discount worth up to £275,000 per eligible business over five years. All business rates growth within the zone for at least 25 years would also be shared and retained within the area, and sites would be equipped with superfast broadband connections.