Councils which made expressed interest in previous initiative told their bids will be shelved

Chancellor Jeremy Hunt has said all existing investment zone proposals will be dropped and the policy will be switched to benefit research 鈥榗lusters鈥�.

Delivering his autumn statement today, Hunt did not ditch the investment zone plan of his predecessor Kwasi Kwarteng entirely but made clear that all existing local authority bids for the programme - which included a number of major housing schemes - will not be taken forward.

He said he will keep the policy and focus it on 鈥渓everaging our research strengths鈥� in a small number of locations. 

hunt

Source: HM Treasury

Jeremy Hunt has canned proposals for investment zone just weeks after they were announced. The Treasury had estimated they would have cost the public purse 拢12bn in lost taxes

The autumn statement document said: 鈥淭he government will use this [investment zones] programme to catalyse a lim