§ Mr. Richard Shepherdasked the Secretary of State for the Environment if he will list the elements in the cost to public funds of an individual enterprise zone.
§ Mr. KingThe costs of public funds of an enterprise zone arise from the exemption of industrial and commercial property from the payment of local authority rates, the allowance for corporation or income tax purposes of 100 per cent. of capital expenditure on the construction, extension or improvement of industrial and commercial buildings and the exemption from development land tax of development value realised from disposals of interest in land in an exterprise zone within 10 years of the zone"s designation.
§ Mr. Richard Shepherdasked the Chancellor of the Exchequer (1) if he will estimate the cost of extending enterprise zones to cover the whole of the United Kingdom;
(2) if he will estimate the cost of extending the enterprise zones to include the whole area of the Walsall metropolitan borough;
(3) if he will estimate the cost of extending the enterprise zones to cover the whole of the area of the West Midlands.
§ Mr. KingI have been asked to reply.
The full costs of extending enterprise zones to include the whole of Walsall metropolitan borough, the West Midlands or the United Kingdom cannot be calculated. They will depend upon such factors as the nature and pace of future development and changes in land and rateable values. We have restricted enterprise zones to relatively small areas consisting mainly of vacant and underused land and buildings.