Food Enterprise Zones created to drive growth
Eleven new enterpise zones will help food businesses grow and create local jobs.
Food Enterprise Zones (FEZs) that will unleash the entrepreneurial spirit of the countryside and food producers are to be created, the government announced today.
The new zones will free up food and farming businesses, making it simpler and easier for them to grow, and will attract new businesses. Local communities will benefit from new jobs and the opportunity to develop local produce, boosting their economies.
- 19 February 2015 update: Applications for more Food Enterprise Zones have now opened.
Environment Secretary Elizabeth Truss said:
Food Enterprise Zones will help unlock the potential of local food and farming businesses, boosting local economies and attracting more investment.
Consumers both here and abroad want to buy Great British food. These zones will ensure we can grow more top quality produce and expand our food and farming industry, which is worth more than £100 billion a year to the UK economy and is our largest manufacturing sector, worth more than cars and aerospace combined.
Food and farming is at the heart of our long-term economic plan and vital to securing Britain’s economic future.
FEZs will ensure that communities are able to grow their businesses while allowing them to protect their valuable countryside. They will give power to local people – allowing them to decide what kinds of businesses should be in their FEZ and where it should be located, developing those areas that their region excels in.
Grants of up to £50,000 will be available to set up FEZs. Based around Local Development Orders, and in line with local priorities, they will make the planning process simpler and easier for food and farming businesses that want to expand.
As well as attracting investment, the Food Enterprise Zones will encourage closer ties between food and farming businesses to boost the domestic food and farming sector.
FEZs will also allow more local decision making on planning and development issues involving food and farming businesses.
There are eleven proposed Food Enterprise Zones with the potential for the scheme to roll out more widely in future.
Food Enterprise Zones
The proposed Food Enterprise Zones are in:
- Somerset
- South Downs
- Cornwall
- Cumbria
- Lincolnshire (3 FEZs)
- Worcestershire
- Leicestershire
- Cheshire
- West Sussex
Updates to this page
Last updated 19 February 2015 + show all updates
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Updated to highlight that applications for further Food Enterprise Zones are now being considered.
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First published.