Maps today reveal swathes of land that will be transformed into Enterprise Zones. Daniel Wainwright reports:

Encompassing almost 300 acres in a patchwork of sites crying out for regeneration, these two maps show where the Enterprise Zones that businesses will be encouraged to move to in return for a business rate holiday and relaxed planning rules.

They are expected to host 7,868 jobs between them and lead to the creation of 6,000 more as other companies take people on to supply the firms and factories that would open.

Wolverhampton’s i54 in Fordhouses, on the border with South Staffordshire, and four surrounding sites will be designated an Enterprise Zone along with 15 areas of Darlaston.

Between the various sites 3,843 jobs will be created by 2015 with 7,868 in total that can be accommodated on 505,427 sq m (5,440,370 sq ft) of floor space.

Enterprise Zones were announced by the coalition government earlier this year as a way of jump starting private sector development. By offering firms who open inside them a business rate holiday, superfast broadband and relaxed rules on planning permission it is hoped that the schemes will revitalise the economy.

The last time the Black Country had an Enterprise Zone was when the Merry Hill shopping centre and Dudley Waterfront were built in the 1980s.

The largest part of the Black Country’s new zone is the i54, which takes up 168 acres. The Black Country’s Local Enterprise Partnership (LEP) is hoping the government can convince Jaguar Land Rover (JLR) to open a new engine plant there, creating 1,000 jobs.

But the rest of the Enterprise Zone is crucial, particularly as there is no confirmation that Indian-owned JLR will favour the i54 over a site in India, despite its closeness to the M54 and its links to the M6.

Fifteen areas of Darlaston will be designated as an Enterprise Zone. They are all close to major roads such as the Black Country Route and the M6 next to junction 10, which is another benefit on top of tax breaks and relaxed planning laws

In accompanying documents the LEP warns: “There is significant risk both in jobs and funding returns to the overall Enterprise Portfolio if this were not to happen, which is why we are not proposing that the Black Country Enterprise Portfolio should simply comprise i54.”

Another crucial hurdle for the i54 is the creation of a sliproad onto the M54. So far 25 people have objected to the proposals and the Highways Agency, which manages motorways, is considering a public inquiry.

The relaxed planning laws of an Enterprise Zone may be seen as a way of getting around this. Wolverhampton City Council is working with councils in Staffordshire and has an agreement in principle to fund the new junction.

The city’s deputy leader Councillor Peter Bilson said: “I’m not anticipating any problems with infrastructure requirements. The planning authorities in South Staffordshire don’t have any issues with it.”

He described the i54 and the possibility of JLR moving there as a “game changer” for Wolverhampton, which has suffered one of the highest unemployment rates in the country.

Next to i54 are 21 acres of land close to the HS Marston aerospace site on Wobaston Road. Also included in the zone is a two acre corner plot of land right by junction 2 of the M54 on the A449 Stafford Road and there are still five acres of vacant land behind Wolverhampton Business Park. The Wolverhampton part of the Enterprise Zone is twice the size of the mosaic of sites planned for Darlaston.

But there will still be 1,918 new jobs in Darlaston by 2015 and overall the LEP estimates that 7,127 jobs will be created thanks to people working both on the sites and for companies that supply the firms that will locate there.

Council bosses said they wanted to see company headquarters, sprawling warehouses and bustling offices at the site.

Walsall Council leader Mike Bird has even offered to house the under-threat Birmingham Wholesale Market there in a bid to keep the market in the Midlands.

To support the project, a multi-million road improvement scheme is in the pipeline. Two roads and four major junctions are set to be improved as part of the plan to handle the increased amount of traffic. The borough’s traffic boss, Councillor Tom Ansell, said: “New roads will help lead to new jobs and investment.”

According to the LEP in its statement to the government: “The Darlaston sites create an exceptionally attractive strategic core located in the heart of the Black Country, straddling and highly visible from the M6.

“They are large enough for inward investors in advanced manufacturing, high value logistics and “clean” environmental technologies to consider”.

In Darlaston the biggest site is the 23 acre Phoenix 10, formerly the James Bridge Works. It needs major works to turn it from one of the most polluted sites in Europe into land fit for a business park. Developers will find out in the autumn if they have secured £6 million of Government funding to get the ball rolling.

It sits to the east of the M6 , a little south of two small sites call Opal and Onyx which are also part of the Enterprise Zone.

On the other side of the motorway sits a cluster of six pieces of land, making up a total of 39 acres and including six acres of the former IMI site.

The rest of the zone is two miles away off the Black Country Route and will bring back to use land such as the former Charles Richards steelworks, the former Garrington’s forging works and bring businesses to the Holland Industrial Estate.

Councillor Bird described the overall project as “great news for Darlaston, for Walsall and the Black Country”.