Government digs up another corpse to shag
Discussion
I cannot beleive the Tories are resurrecting the daft, utterly failled idea of 'enterprise zones': http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-14552193
An idiotic waste of money and a licence to create quango jobs if ever there was one, these were never proved to be effective and, at worst, squandered millions of pounds of public funds on factories that in some csaes shut soon afterwards (Google Daewoo, Wales) or otherwise were never even occupied (Hyundai IIRC is one such example). The jobs they did create, many simply 'migrated' from surrounding areas, the net proudction of jobs being questionable.
"For crying out loud" people cry, "why not simply lower business taxes and cut red tape?" I suspect because you don't get (dirty) Eu dosh for doing those things. That, I fear is the truth of it - the choice is do this and get our hands on grants, or don't and you won;t get the funding (EU cashback) by any other means.
Some good comments on the BBC site though.
An idiotic waste of money and a licence to create quango jobs if ever there was one, these were never proved to be effective and, at worst, squandered millions of pounds of public funds on factories that in some csaes shut soon afterwards (Google Daewoo, Wales) or otherwise were never even occupied (Hyundai IIRC is one such example). The jobs they did create, many simply 'migrated' from surrounding areas, the net proudction of jobs being questionable.
"For crying out loud" people cry, "why not simply lower business taxes and cut red tape?" I suspect because you don't get (dirty) Eu dosh for doing those things. That, I fear is the truth of it - the choice is do this and get our hands on grants, or don't and you won;t get the funding (EU cashback) by any other means.
Some good comments on the BBC site though.
To be fair, the politically motivated press and the usual red mongs will happily just ignore whatever the scheme entails and link it directly to the old schemes, simply because they share a name.
The principle of bringing employment to the areas that need it most seems like a good one to me. Maybe we should let them roll out and judge them on results instead of prejudicing based purely on a name?
The principle of bringing employment to the areas that need it most seems like a good one to me. Maybe we should let them roll out and judge them on results instead of prejudicing based purely on a name?
Symbolica said:
Why do successive governments seem to think that "Building offices" is the same thing as "Enterprise"?
Because they play golf with/have their arses fondled by/go on holiday in the villa of/have been shown compromising pictures of themselves by [delete any or all as apropriate] the local propertaay developers.Next question?
10 Pence Short said:
The principle of bringing employment to the areas that need it most seems like a good one to me.
Gvoernments picking winners is a non-starter though.Did the British govt decided Ironbridge was to be the epicentre of the world-wide industrial revolution? No.
Best back off and give business and entrepreneurs elbow room to do their stuff. Drop taxes and ease red tape - properly - and the results will, I'm sure, pleasantly surprise all of us.
Blacksmiths in Canary Wharaf? Hedge funds in Haretlepool? Who knows, but if it works, the free market will let it flourish.
Green Park, next to the M4 at reading was built over 5 years ago IIRC complete with it's own windy mill.
As far as I can recall no one has EVER moven into it.
Bracknell is only a fer moles down the motorway and has acres of empty office space for sale/rent.
All over the counrty there are offices and units for sale/rent.
WTF does the country need more for?
As far as I can recall no one has EVER moven into it.
Bracknell is only a fer moles down the motorway and has acres of empty office space for sale/rent.
All over the counrty there are offices and units for sale/rent.
WTF does the country need more for?
odyssey2200 said:
Green Park, next to the M4 at reading was built over 5 years ago IIRC complete with it's own windy mill.
As far as I can recall no one has EVER moven into it.
Bracknell is only a fer moles down the motorway and has acres of empty office space for sale/rent.
All over the counrty there are offices and units for sale/rent.
WTF does the country need more for?
Aren't MCI/Verizon in Green Park? Along with a couple of other companies. You are right though the industrial estate in Bracknell should be perfect for most business's needs. As far as I can recall no one has EVER moven into it.
Bracknell is only a fer moles down the motorway and has acres of empty office space for sale/rent.
All over the counrty there are offices and units for sale/rent.
WTF does the country need more for?
ETA I got it wrong MCI are somewhere else. There are a few companies there I recognise the name of.
Edited by Miguel Alvarez on Wednesday 17th August 16:44
Digga said:
10 Pence Short said:
The principle of bringing employment to the areas that need it most seems like a good one to me.
Gvoernments picking winners is a non-starter though.Did the British govt decided Ironbridge was to be the epicentre of the world-wide industrial revolution? No.
Best back off and give business and entrepreneurs elbow room to do their stuff. Drop taxes and ease red tape - properly - and the results will, I'm sure, pleasantly surprise all of us.
Blacksmiths in Canary Wharaf? Hedge funds in Haretlepool? Who knows, but if it works, the free market will let it flourish.
OK I run a company , but one big question why dont these advisor people who are suppost to know it all start a company ? .
Have tangled with these people once , walked out after telling them they should go on a basic buisness course .
Has my company survived yes 17 years , some weeks 20 hours sleep and galatic milages with trains and flights .
Have tangled with these people once , walked out after telling them they should go on a basic buisness course .
Has my company survived yes 17 years , some weeks 20 hours sleep and galatic milages with trains and flights .
Here's a prime example of an enterprise zone project, the largest speculatively built industrial building in the UK:
Details here: http://gazeley.com/zh-CN/Our_Sites_UK_Buildings_Av...
This building occupys approximately 40% of a site the was formerly Lea Hall Colliery in Rugeley. When the colliery was closed in the 90's the regional development agency (RDA), in conjunction with English Partnerships (another quango) undertook the (commendable) work of demolition and remediation to prepare the 100+ acre site for new development. Without this impetus, the huge costs associated and the (at that time) lack of business in the area, might have seen the place sit idle for years, waiting for private initiative. So far so good.
Much of the estate to the East of this building is divided into smaller buildings - some of them, sub-divided - which provide homes, rented and freehold - for many and various types of business. The breadth and depth of skills is diverse, from the most menial and manual, to highly skilled and professional and most vocations in between.
This larger site, 40 acres (see here for just how big: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QsjEDV1WILI)could have been released for similar ventures, plot by plot, but already it was clear that, due to the byzantine RDA rules on development (whose step-in clauses made it impossible for firms to get a conventional development mortgage without huge funds) the project was stalling. Initial speculative developments were through the quango but most later develoments were through local property developers - the usual suspects - and this did not necessarily serve the actual needs of businesses. With new rules on rates chargeable on speculative units, it was clear that even this type of development would dry up.
And so, to great fanfare, this 40 acre prime industrial site was punted off the public books like a hot potato, sold to a very large developer. At this point I have to decalre an interest; we own three of the other (much smaller) buildings within the shot as well as some land in the area, so "we're alright jack", especially since hte monster building has now been let to a blue chip client for 15 years. Our property will not suffer.
However, it's a shame that the land, which will apparently create 700 jobs, was not nurturing newer, smaller businesses. I'm sure the 700 jobs - looking at employment density per square-foot of building in SMEs neighbouring us - would easily have been exceeded but, moreover, the roles would be more diverse and the taxes paid no doubt greater than the incoming mulitnational.
I don't deride the efforts of the RDA and quangos since much good has come of the scheme overall and I cannot see how they could have done much else with the remaining 40 acre plot, given the constraints and the recent economic difficultes, - but the project has been costly and no doubt there are still many entrepreneurs who cannot find the right type of premises for their business idea.
Details here: http://gazeley.com/zh-CN/Our_Sites_UK_Buildings_Av...This building occupys approximately 40% of a site the was formerly Lea Hall Colliery in Rugeley. When the colliery was closed in the 90's the regional development agency (RDA), in conjunction with English Partnerships (another quango) undertook the (commendable) work of demolition and remediation to prepare the 100+ acre site for new development. Without this impetus, the huge costs associated and the (at that time) lack of business in the area, might have seen the place sit idle for years, waiting for private initiative. So far so good.
Much of the estate to the East of this building is divided into smaller buildings - some of them, sub-divided - which provide homes, rented and freehold - for many and various types of business. The breadth and depth of skills is diverse, from the most menial and manual, to highly skilled and professional and most vocations in between.
This larger site, 40 acres (see here for just how big: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QsjEDV1WILI)could have been released for similar ventures, plot by plot, but already it was clear that, due to the byzantine RDA rules on development (whose step-in clauses made it impossible for firms to get a conventional development mortgage without huge funds) the project was stalling. Initial speculative developments were through the quango but most later develoments were through local property developers - the usual suspects - and this did not necessarily serve the actual needs of businesses. With new rules on rates chargeable on speculative units, it was clear that even this type of development would dry up.
And so, to great fanfare, this 40 acre prime industrial site was punted off the public books like a hot potato, sold to a very large developer. At this point I have to decalre an interest; we own three of the other (much smaller) buildings within the shot as well as some land in the area, so "we're alright jack", especially since hte monster building has now been let to a blue chip client for 15 years. Our property will not suffer.
However, it's a shame that the land, which will apparently create 700 jobs, was not nurturing newer, smaller businesses. I'm sure the 700 jobs - looking at employment density per square-foot of building in SMEs neighbouring us - would easily have been exceeded but, moreover, the roles would be more diverse and the taxes paid no doubt greater than the incoming mulitnational.
I don't deride the efforts of the RDA and quangos since much good has come of the scheme overall and I cannot see how they could have done much else with the remaining 40 acre plot, given the constraints and the recent economic difficultes, - but the project has been costly and no doubt there are still many entrepreneurs who cannot find the right type of premises for their business idea.
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