Four more enterprise zones named

Areas in Birmingham, Bristol, Leeds and Sheffield have been named as the next four of a proposed 21 enterprise zones around the country. This follows on from an announcement in March that named sites in Nottingham, Liverpool, Manchester and London would become zones, benefiting from relaxed planning controls, superfast broadband and discounted business rates. Eleven zones have now been named. The communities secretary, Eric Pickles, said: "[The new sites] have the pedigree to accelerate growth and create thousands of new jobs. Our low-tax, low-regulation enterprise zones will help make our country the best place in Europe to start and grow a business. With 10 more enterprise zones still to come it's great to see the local ambition and innovation that emerges when central government steps back and gives local areas the chance to shape their own economy." The launch of the zones were part of the government's attempts to kick-start private sector recovery as public sector cuts began to dig in. In March, two thinktanks said that the zones would prove inneffective . A report by the Work Foundation said that zones created by previous Conservative governments were not as successful as people believed them to be, while Centre for Cities said that what worked in the 80s would not work now . Speaking to the Guardian, Joanna Averley, interim chief executive of Centre for Cities, said: "Today's announcement shows that the government is now listening to the lessons of the past, for example in the selection of the Birmingham and Solihull zone, but the forecast for employment growth appears ambitious, and to be successful the enterprise zones are going to have to be very clear about how they incentivise growth and spend their income from business rates. "It would be a good idea to use those funds on developing skills in the local area and on transport infrastructure." This content is brought to you by Guardian Professional. Become a Public Leaders Network member to get our weekly update direct to your inbox