Oxfordshire Local Enterprise Partnership has assured residents that the county will benefit from the development of a new enterprise zone, which will guarantee employers super-fast broadband access.

In a bid to encourage investment and boost the economy, the government announced in this year's Budget that it would create 21 of these zones across England, offering incentives for companies to attract companies to the sites.

As well as fibre optic broadband connectivity, firms that establish operations in enterprise zones will receive lower taxes and reduced levels of regulation and planning control.

Science Vale UK in Oxfordshire was one of 11 new sites included in the initiative in August, along with locations in Cornwall, Cambridgeshire and Suffolk.

Some commentators have criticised the project, comparing it to Margaret Thatcher's controversial scheme of the same name, which attempted to persuade businesses to set up in deprived areas.

But Dr Martin Dare-Edwards, chairman of the Oxfordshire Local Enterprise Partnership, insisted the new enterprise zones will be different.

"Then was then and now is now," he was quoted by the Witney Gazette as saying.

"Now, here in Oxfordshire, the idea is to build on success and make the UK as a whole more competitive by creating jobs in the private sector in an area where there is a real prospect for growth."

Some 200,000 square metres of laboratory and office space are available at Science Vale, which comprises 92 hectares of land owned by Harwell Oxford and Milton Park, two of Britain's largest science and research parks.

It is hoped that the enterprise zone scheme could bring as many as 8,400 jobs to the area.

Managing director of Milton Park James Dipple said it will be a "tall order" to have the site open for business by April 1st 2012 and fully established by 2015, but added: "We are fairly confident we can deliver."

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