Nottingham's Boots site given Enterprise Zone status

An industrial site in Nottingham has been chosen as one of 11 new Enterprise Zones announced by the government on Thursday.

The Boots site in Lenton will receive a share of £100m investment to boost economic growth in the area.

Boots employs 7,000 people at its head office on part of the site but up to 100 acres (40 hectares) of vacant land is available to be redeveloped.

The status will mean tax breaks and relaxed planning rules to create jobs.

'10,000 jobs'

Nottingham City Council's chief executive Jane Todd said: "Nottingham is experiencing a surge in planning and development interest. A number of significant projects are under way or are well advanced.

"Today's news further demonstrates that Nottingham is a booming city which is attracting significant inward investment and growth."

Colin Walton, Chairman of the Local Enterprise Partnership, said: "A newly developed site could create between 5,000 and 10,000 new jobs locally and result in much-needed economic growth in our area.

"The new Enterprise Zone could lead to the development of an edge-of-city multi-use employment site which could attract internationally significant businesses across a variety of sectors."

The government has said the new zones will be focused on areas of high growth potential with simpler planning and discounted business rates to boost the local economy.

Alex Gourlay, from Boots, said: "We're delighted with today's announcement. We have been developing proposals for the regeneration of this site for a number of years, this gives us an opportunity to forge ahead with our plans."