§ Mr. Gryllsasked the Secretary of State for the Environment if, in view of the proposed closure of Chatham dockyard and the rundown in Portsmouth, he will designate two additional enterprise zones in these towns.
§ Mr. KingWhen my right hon. Friend the Prime Minister announced the last two enterprise zones in February, it was made clear that no further zones would be selected for the time being. There are now enough to test the experiment and we must allow time to see what can be achieved. If, in the longer term, we decide to designate further zones, we would certainly be prepared to consider any proposals put forward by the local authorities concerned.