Basingstoke: Town highlights future investment at MIPIM UK showcase

Attracting new jobs and investment to Basingstoke was the aim when the town took centre stage at a prestigious national property and investment conference in London this month.

Basingstoke and Deane Borough Council promoted how the area is set to benefit from millions of pounds more public and private investment in the years to come, in addition to showcasing the town as a thriving location to work, live and prosper, at the MIPIM UK event at Olympia.

Basingstoke currently makes the highest contribution to economic productivity in Hampshire and the Isle of Wight. The council will be highlighting key multi-million-pound projects that will help to future-proof the town. These include the regeneration of the central business district at Basing View and the development of much-needed new homes and communities on land in public ownership at Manydown, as well as proposals for a transformational redevelopment to double leisure facilities at Basingstoke Leisure Park.

With one of the largest local authority investment and property portfolios in the country, the council has a track record of using its own assets to keep the local economy thriving. These include the council’s £25 million Invest to Grow Basingstoke Fund to provide loans to help kick-start development projects and the delivery of the largest combined John Lewis at Home and Waitrose in the UK on council land.

Basingstoke and Deane Borough Council’s cabinet member for property and development John Izett said: “We’re delighted to be promoting all that Basingstoke has to offer at such a high profile national event. This offers a powerful platform to promote what our borough has to offer, such as the entrepreneurial success at Basing View and future economic growth, attracting jobs and new facilities to keep the area thriving.

“This is an exciting time for the borough. In the decades to come, total public and private investment in infrastructure projects is set to total £4 billion and proposed development projects are attracting a great deal of interest from the investment market.

“We will be using Basingstoke’s well-connected location, great environment and history of successful growth, to show potential employers and investors all that the borough has to offer to ensure it is an even better place to live in the years ahead.”

Basingstoke will also be partnering with the Greater Thames Valley at the event, exhibiting it as a region of enormous economic importance to the UK – the most productive region outside London and the number one location for inclusive growth.

Enterprise M3 local enterprise partnership will also promote its outstanding multi-site Enterprise Zone EZ³, which covers Basing View in Basingstoke, as well as Longcross Park, near Chertsey and TechForest, in Whitehill and Bordon. Incentives to companies occupying new space in these zones include £275,000 business rates relief over five years for each site.