Optional Enquiry 12: Enterprise Zones, Local Development Orders and Business Improvement Districts
| Author | Keith Pugsley/Ken Miles |
| Pages | 149-157 |
12.1. Is the area designated as an enterprise zone?
12.2. Is the area subject to a local development order?
12.3. Is the area a business improvement district (BID)?
This optional enquiry concerns enterprise zones established in the area where the property is situated, local development orders affecting the area and districts established as business improvement districts (BIDs). It will normally be asked by a buyer of industrial or commercial business premises, or a buyer of land who wishes to construct or adapt premises for these purposes.
OPTIONAL ENQUIRY 12.1: ENTERPRISE ZONES
Under the Local Government, Planning and Land Act 1980 (section 179 and Schedule 32), provision was made for selected district councils (or London borough councils) to be invited by the Secretary of State to prepare schemes for areas with a view to their being designated as enterprise zones. Once a scheme is adopted and the zone designated, development for purposes specified in the scheme is granted automatic planning permission, and certain premises in the zone were originally exempted from the liability to pay business rates. There are therefore, in designated enterprise zones, considerable planning control and other advantages for industrial and commercial premises. The idea is to encourage industrial and commercial activity by the removal of some tax burdens and by speeding up planning and other administrative controls.
The procedure for designation of enterprise zones
The first step in designating an enterprise zone is for the Secretary of State to invite the council to prepare a scheme. The Secretary of State specifies the proposed area and may make directions as to what provisions the scheme shall contain.
The council then prepares the scheme, if it wishes (it is not obliged to do so, but if it does, it must contain the provisions as directed by the Secretary of State). The council must publicise the scheme it has prepared, and give an opportunity for
150 Enquiries of Local Authorities and Water Companies
representations about it to be made to the council within a specified period of time. The council must then consider any representations made.
Once any representations have been considered, the council may formally adopt the scheme, with or without modifications, and give public notification of its adoption in the London Gazette and local newspapers, placing a copy of it on deposit at the offices of the council for public inspection. The public may request copies of the scheme, which must be provided at reasonable cost. The importance of the opportunity to inspect the scheme lies in the fact that it will reveal the forms of development that will automatically be granted planning permission in the event that the area is designated as an enterprise zone.
Any person who is aggrieved by the provisions of the scheme adopted by the council may question the validity of the scheme within 6 weeks of its publication in the press, by making application to the High Court.
The final step is designation of the enterprise zone. This is done by the Secretary of State, if he thinks it expedient to do so, once the 6-week period referred to above has passed or, if an application to question the scheme’s validity has been made to the High Court, once those proceedings have been dealt with.
The Secretary of State designates the enterprise zone by order which specifies:
(a) the date the designation takes effect;
(b) the period it is to remain in force (normally 10 years);
(c) the boundaries of the zone (by reference to a map); and
(d) the enterprise zone authority (the council which was invited to prepare the scheme).
Further publicity must then be given about the designation, and an advertisement must be placed in the London Gazette and local newspaper containing a statement that the enterprise zone has been created and that a copy of the scheme pursuant to which it was created can be inspected at the council’s offices.
The Secretary of State may modify enterprise zones but not so as to alter boundaries, change the enterprise zone authority or reduce the period during which the zone is to be an enterprise zone.
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