The government should reintroduce enterprise zones to stimulate development, a planning think-tank said today.

Under the plans, announced today by the Town and Country Planning Association, development sites would be earmarked and businesses would be given tax incentives to move to them. Tax allowances will no longer apply to existing enterprise zones from 1 April 2011 under current legislation.

In a set of briefing papers called Making Planning Work, the TCPA said developers should also be offered ‘building bonds’, which would give councils the option of giving 100% capital loans to developers in specific areas.

It called on the government for radical and fast reforms modeled around enterprise zones, which were introduced 25 years ago.

These would help kickstart development now house building targets have been scrapped since the new government took over.

The TCPA said that for councils to be able to offer loans to developers, the treasury needed to remove restrictions around trading local government debt.

One suggestion is that local authorities are given a “general power of competance” which assumes councils will be able to manage their loan agreements autonomously.

Kate Henderson, TCPA president, said: “We welcome the coalition’s commitment to a more responsive planning system. But we all have to recognise that if building is to take off at a time of huge financial challenges for the government, alternative delivery models – which do not make great demands on public finances but involve adventurous models – are urgently needed.”

To read the briefing papers, click the links below:

TCPA Briefing Paper 1 Responsible Democratic Localism

TCPA Briefing Paper 2 National Planning Framework

TCPA Briefing Paper 3 The Bigger Picture

TCPA Briefing Paper 4 Incentives or Growth

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