26/10/2011 - Worcestershire Local Enterprise Partnership meets with Secretary of State

Tony Hyde, Group Managing Director and Vice-Chair of the Worcestershire LEP/Chair of the Business Board, has attended a meeting alongside Mark Garnier, Wyre Forest's MP, board members of the Worcestershire LEP, officers of Wyre Forest district council, and Local Government Secretary of State the Rt Hon Eric Pickles MP. The meeting was initiated after the bid for the Kidderminster Business Park failed to achieve Business Enterprise Zone status.

Eric Pickles has promised to help WFDC with a number of issues that will give the South Kidderminster Business Park much of what a BEZ would provide. Importantly, he has agreed that he will help with the Local development Order, that will provide blanket planning permission for new business premises and extensions for existing ones; will provide help with local infrastructure bottlenecks; and will make his officials available to WFDC officers to help with any other issues that may arise.

Speaking after the meeting, Mark Garnier said: “I am incredibly grateful to Eric. It was a business like meeting and we came away with a great sense of optimism. We achieved everything we wanted from this and when taken into account with the fact that both BT and Virgin are providing superfast broadband for Kidderminster, we are getting very close indeed to having everything that a BEZ can provide, but without any of the restrictions. This is a good day for Kidderminster and the wider Wyre Forest and I am delighted that we are making progress. This provides more opportunity for existing businesses, and a viable and attractive venue for new businesses to relocate to.”

Tony Hyde commented: "It is critical that as a local business we are seen to be supporting economic sustainability and viability in to the Wyre Forest and immediate surrounding area. Thomas Vale alongside the WLEP and other partners played a heavily strategic role in the development of the proposals and requirements for the Enterprise Zone bid - and we are now looking at other areas of development where jobs can be created and money can be kept in the local area throughthe development and sustained growth of local businesses."

The South Kidderminster Business Park covers around 200 Ha of brownfield and industrial space along the Stourport Road corridor and the Worcester Road corridor.