Southern Oxfordshire is one of only 11 new “enterprise zones” announced by the Government, and as such is seen as a beacon for national growth and investment. Today, Chancellor George Osborne tells Oxford Mail readers what he hopes the “zone” will do for jobs and business in the county, and how our region will help the country’s ailing economy..."Last week we announced that the Science Vale Enterprise Zone based in Harwell and Milton Park will be part of a new generation of Enterprise Zones, offering new start-up businesses a menu of tempting reasons to locate to Oxfordshire and create a business and jobs there.

The Science Vale Enterprise Zone will harness the region’s unparalleled research and development base to create a wealth of innovative and high growth businesses. The region is home to some of the newest and fastest growing businesses in high performance engineering, biotechnology and medical instruments, and the Science Vale enterprise zone provides the opportunity to unlock the region’s full potential.

In particular, it will develop markets and create private sector jobs in areas that have the greatest potential for global competitiveness such as low carbon and green technology, advance material and engineering, and in space and other high-value R&D science based sectors, bringing in 200 businesses and between 6,250 and 10,000 new jobs by 2015.

Firms that set up in the Science Vale will get a 100 per cent business rate discount worth up to £275,000. They will benefit from radically simpler planning rules so they can get building without excessive bureaucracy and costs. There will also be Government support to ensure that superfast broadband is rolled out throughout the zone because we want these zones get off to a flying start, and we will support them with initiatives that encourage inward investment. The competition for Enterprise Zone status was tough, with thirty strong bids. Only eleven were chosen.

This is a perfect demon-stration of how the Oxfordshire Local Enterprise Partnership has brought together leading local business and civic leaders to take a firm grip of the growth challenge.

I want to pay particular tribute to the local MP, Ed Vaizey, who fought hard for his area. This partnership is taking the reins of the local economy and the Science Vale Enterprise Zone is a key part of that plan for growth.

It means that your area will keep any proceeds of this new growth for up to 25 years, so you can reinvest in further plans.

Our national economy depends on investment in local businesses of all sizes. They are on the frontline of economic recovery. The new generation of 22 Enterprise Zones we are rolling out will help this country become one of the best places in Europe to start and grow a business.

And Oxfordshire and the Science Vale will be at the heart of that growth."