Chesterfield council backs Investment Zone bid to bring more businesses to the area

Labour-led Chesterfield Borough Council has earmarked the Staveley Growth Corridor and Hartington regeneration sites, including the proposed Hartington Industrial Park, to be included in the EMCCA Investment Zone scheme, which should bring in tax incentives, capital and additional revenue funding to support the sites, businesses and job opportunities while attracting investors.

The authority voted in favour of supporting the plans at a Full Council meeting on Wednesday.

Council Leader, Cllr Tricia Gilby, told the cabinet meeting: “In my view the EMCCA, when they are elected, should be thinking they are very lucky to have boroughs like Chesterfield and south Derbyshire which invest more than the average authority in economic growth because they are doing continuing work that pays dividends.”

Cllr Gilby added that the proposed Investment Zone will be ‘spot on’ for the borough council’s economic growth strategy that goes back to 2011 when the council made putting communities first as its ‘headline’ for a thriving borough. It is hoped that the EMCCA will receive £160m of Government funding over ten years to support growth in green industries, advanced manufacturing, and the proposed Investment Zone.

The council’s two earmarked sites will subsequently attract full Business Rates Retention by the council over 25 years which can then be reinvested by the council into priority areas not just for the two regeneration sites.

Being part of the Investment Zone will also bring tax incentives including Stamp Duty Land Tax Relief on commercial land and buildings, as well as Business Rate Relief on newly occupied business premises and other certain existing businesses on Investment Zone tax sites.

There is also expected to be a first year Enhanced Capital Allowance for companies with expenditure on plant and machinery assets in the tax sites. Other benefits will include an Enhanced Structures and Building Allowance and Employer or National Insurance Contributions Relief.

The Chesterfield borough-based sites could also bid for Flexible Funding which may be available for research, innovation, skills, infrastructure, land enterprise and business support, planning and developments as part of any future reinvestment strategy for the East Midlands Investment Zone.

Chesterfield Borough Council believes that tax incentives may also attract ‘green sector’ and ‘advance manufacturing businesses’ to the two sites with the potential to provide jobs in the Chesterfield economy.

Opposition borough council Liberal Democrat Group leader, Cllr Paul Holmes, said he was pleased to see that there would be support to help develop a brownfield site and bring in jobs but he was concerned that some business growth rate money from the area may be used elsewhere.

The borough council stated that the potential inclusion of the two sites in the proposed East Midlands Investment Zone was welcome news after the Government had abandoned plans for the northern leg of the HS2 high speed rail link along with a Staveley maintenance depot.

Staveley Growth Corridor plans include opening disused former industrial land for housing potentially including around 1,800 new homes, creating an estimated 3,400 jobs from new businesses, and reducing congestion and pollution for Brimington and Staveley along with plans to introduce a growth corridor with 150 hectares of brownfield land developments.

It also includes a proposed 3.7mile Chesterfield-Staveley Regeneration Route bypass which has currently been put on hold by Derbyshire County Council while it is focusing on a £33m budget deficit for the 2023/24 financial year.

Planning permission has already been granted for the Hartington Industrial Park on a 20-hectare site for industrial and warehouse development to create jobs near to the commercial Markham Vale enterprise site.

Chesterfield Borough Council has now formally approved for the two borough development sites to be part of the EMCCA’s submission to the Government for Investment Zone status so the Chesterfield sites can be designated as Business Rates Retention areas.

A council spokesperson stated: “The designation of the two development sites as Investment Zone sites with a focus on green industries and advance manufacturing will help support delivery of the council’s Growth Strategy by strengthening Chesterfield’s competitive location as a place to do business, securing new business investment in the borough and supporting the move to a stronger, more diversified and high value economy offering high quality, high value jobs to local people.”

Two other earmarked sites in the proposed EMCCA Investment Zone region to potentially benefit from tax incentives include Derby’s Infinity Park and Worksop’s Centre of Excellence for Modern Construction.

The EMCCA is expected to be established in April, 2024, along with the East Midlands Investment Zone and there will be an inaugural East Midlands mayoral election in May, 2024.

As part of the EMCCA devolution deal, Derbyshire County Council, Derby City Council, Nottinghamshire County Council and Nottingham City Council will oversee many public services but the new East Midlands authority which is set to bring in around £4bn of funding for the region will deal with broader issues like transport, regeneration and employment with greater powers and less Government control.

Borough and district council representatives across the East Midlands, including Chesterfield Borough Council, will further support the EMCCA’s development and governance with partners from business and other sectors.