Plans for £160m Investment Zone for Flintshire and Wrexham confirmed

Alec Doyle, local democracy reporter

A £160 million plan to create a devolved advanced manufacturing Investment Zone across Flintshire and Wrexham is expected to create 6,000 jobs.

The scheme is a collaboration between Flintshire County Council, Wrexham County Borough Council, the North Wales Corporate Joint Committee, Welsh Government and UK Government.

By offering tax and rate relief it aims to speed up the development of key industrial sites, encourage the creation of new manufacturing jobs and attract £1bn of investment into the region.

Business rates

Revenue funding generated by the sites will be available to both Flintshire and Wrexham councils to fund further economic growth – including two areas where they can collect 50% of business rates generated by businesses for 25 years.

Over 15 years that is estimated to be worth almost £28m for Wrexham and £19m for Flintshire.

“Flintshire and Wrexham are the most important parts of the industrialised part of North Wales,” said Wrexham County Borough Council leader Mark Pritchard. “We’re very close to the border with England and compete with Liverpool, Manchester and areas connected by the M56 and M53.

“It’s important we work together to bring growth, investment and employment.”

The Investment Zone Tax Sites will be based across three areas – The Deeside Gateway – comprising the Airfields and other former RAF Sealand land around Deeside Industrial Park, Wrexham Industrial Estate and Warren Hall near Broughton – which is strategic land currently owned by the Welsh Government.

Cardiff and Newport

There will only be two Investment Zones in Wales – the other being across Cardiff and Newport.

Flexible funding of £160m is available to help fund infrastructure development of the North Wales sites. Money will also go towards improving local transport links. There will also be skills investment to ensure local workers are ready to capitalise on the employment opportunities within the Investment Zone.

Businesses within the zone will gain benefits including:

Five-year relief from business rates to support new business growth.
Full Stamp Duty Land Tax relief for land and buildings bought or developed for commercial purposes.
Zero-rate employer National Insurance contributions on earnings up to £25,000 for new employees (working within the Investment Zone for 60% of their time) for three years.
Enhanced 100% Capital Allowance for plant and machinery purchases.
Accelerated relief to allow businesses to reduce taxable profits by 10% of the cost of investment per year, relieving 100% of the cost of structures and buildings over 10 years.

‘Employment’

Cllr Pritchard said the proposals would not create a ‘tax haven’ in North Wales – but he welcomed any investment that grew the regional economy.

“I’m sure there will be some existing businesses who may choose to take advantage of the conditions within the Investment Zone,” he said.

“It doesn’t matter to me whether the companies are new businesses or not, as long as they bring investment and employment and it benefits Wrexham and Flintshire.

“We’ve got £160m to bring in an estimated £1bn to the local economy and I think that’s fantastic. We are now setting up boards and a constitution and will start delivering as soon as possible.

“The business rates we collect will give us more autonomy over where money will be spent than we had before. It’s excellent for North Wales.

“We’ve pushed for decision making at local level and you can’t have pockets of it, you have to take it all. We’re ready for the challenge.”