Local Government

They didn’t work particularly well last time, will it be any different this time? Rupert Greenhalgh argues the new generation of enterprise zones need a more intelligent approach

Much has recently been written about enterprise zones, from a replay of the lessons learnt in the 1980s Enterprise Zone Experiment Evaluation, to more contemporary views expressed by a range of think tanks.

I have written elsewhere that within local government, there is an emerging crisis in local economic thinking, policy and strategy. I believe, the government has some fragments of great ideas, and is straining to be radical, but its shrouded in austerity, there is slow progress and a disjuncture in logic. It’s voodoo economic development!