What is the process of creating a new investment zone in Wales?
The UK Government and Welsh Government co-developed a bespoke approach to identifying Investment Zones (IZ) areas in Wales to reflect Wales’s specific policy, governance and economic landscape.
Wales’s Travel To Work Areas (TTWAs) were considered against criteria to determine the strongest areas to host an IZ in Wales. Quantitative criteria included economic potential, innovation potential, and deprivation and productivity levels. Qualitative criteria included the presence of a knowledge anchor company, evidence of sector strength, and the capacity and capability to deliver.
Details of this place selection methodology have been published on the UK Government website:
Based on the application of these criteria, the Cardiff and Newport TTWA and the Wrexham and Flintshire TTWA were determined as the two strongest areas to host an IZ in Wales.