So much for innovation in\u00a0enterprise\u00a0policy.<\/p>\n
The best we seem to be able to do at the moment is rehash 1980s style enterprise zones<\/a> to distort the market in favour of some places over others through a combination of tax breaks and more relaxed\u00a0approaches\u00a0to planning. \u00a0An enterprise zone becomes little more than a place where we encourage\u00a0entrepreneurs\u00a0to put their businesses because of a few breaks that the state can afford offer. \u00a0They are often little more than a business park with flexible planning requirements. \u00a0It looks like there will be 20 of them, funded to the tune of \u00a31.25m each per year. \u00a0And at that level of funding any tax breaks are\u00a0likely\u00a0to be tiny.<\/p>\n But what would a real ‘enterprise zone’ look like? \u00a0Not some policy makers confection but a community that really knows how to support enterprise? \u00a0A community that does not try to pick winners in the pursuit of GDP but really supports\u00a0individuals\u00a0and groups in pursuit of whatever matters most to them?<\/p>\n Well, the first pre-requisite for such an enterprise zone would be that a high percentage of the population really were\u00a0clear\u00a0on what mattered most to them. \u00a0They would be aware of the current situation (politically,\u00a0environmentally, financially culturally and socially) what they love about it, what they hate, and what they want to change as a result. \u00a0They would be helped and challenged to clarify their self interest.<\/p>\n They would have some kind of idea of\u00a0what\u00a0progress looks like to them. \u00a0They would have some idea about the direction in\u00a0which\u00a0progress lies. \u00a0They would be encouraged to reflect on the nature of ‘better’ to produce a creative tension between how\u00a0things\u00a0are and how they might be. \u00a0This creative tension would drive enterprise.<\/p>\n And they would have some kind of game plan about how they were going to make progress. \u00a0They would accept that the\u00a0responsibility\u00a0for progress is theirs. \u00a0They would know how to deal with both set backs and success and have what psychologists call a high\u00a0internal\u00a0locus of control<\/a>. \u00a0In short they\u00a0would\u00a0believe\u00a0that\u00a0they\u00a0can influence their future. That it is not essentially down to fate, luck or others.<\/p>\n They would be living and working in a\u00a0community\u00a0that recognised\u00a0enterprising\u00a0people (NB these may or may not be looking to start a\u00a0business. \u00a0Enterprise in human endeavour comes in many more forms than just entrepreneurship) and individuals and groups in that community would know how to help. \u00a0In short a real enterprise zone would be packed full of people who know how to help and are themselves ‘help able’. \u00a0In such an enterprise zones we would indeed ‘all be Jim’<\/a>.<\/p>\n People would feel a sense of belonging\u00a0because\u00a0they were part of community that wanted them to\u00a0succeed\u00a0and likewise provided\u00a0opportunities\u00a0to help others\u00a0succeed\u00a0as well. \u00a0Success\u00a0would not be down to fiscal policy but to social policy. \u00a0We would succeed in our\u00a0enterprise\u00a0because of the people in our community not because of planning or taxation perks.<\/p>\n In short an enterprise zone would be little more than a competent community. \u00a0And this has more to do with regeneration ‘between the ears’ than with planning regimes, taxation policy or property development.<\/p>\n