If you thought the UK’s economic development toolbox already had too many acronyms, brace yourself – there’s a new one on the block: ISZs, or Industrial Strategy Zones. They’re not an entirely brand-new invention, but rather a tidy repackaging of Freeports and Investment Zones. The government’s goal? To unite their strengths, cut duplication, reduce overlap and make economic growth lingo less like a cryptic crossword.
When Freeports met Investment Zones: the birth of ISZs
The government’s new Industrial Strategy puts it plainly: businesses thrive in places that work. Its Plan for Change also stressed that devolution is central to this. Growth can’t be dictated from Whitehall; it must be led from the ground up. That’s why the government is working more closely with devolved administrations and metro mayors to shift decision-making closer to the people and the places it affects.
Freeports and Investment Zones already play a part in that mission by helping to create jobs and drive growth in key sectors and city regions. But until now, they’ve often operated in silos, with separate funding streams, governance structures and even overlapping boundaries. That’s not exactly a recipe for joined-up delivery.
Industrial Strategy Zones are the government’s answer: a single umbrella that brings Freeports and Investment Zones together. It’s a three-part plan:
- Unite the programmes: bring Freeports and Investment Zones under one shared banner.
- Improve coordination and accountability: streamline governance, oversight and delivery.
- Strengthen collaboration: work with devolved governments to ensure ISZs get coherent and joined-up support.
Liverpool City Region has already shown what this looks like in practice by bringing both together under a single framework as the Liverpool City Region Innovation Zone. In total, there will be 22 ISZs across the UK: ten with an Investment Zone, nine with a Freeport and three with both.
Why the rebrand?
Freeports, Investment Zones, Enterprise Zones (more on EZs shortly)… it’s fair to say the landscape had become a bit crowded. The rebrand to Industrial Strategy Zones isn’t just a fresh coat of paint, it’s about simplifying, sharpening and scaling what already works. Here are a few of the key drivers:
- Breaking down silos: Freeports and Investment Zones often operate in isolation, even when side by side. ISZs bring them together, aligning planning, governance, funding and delivery.
- Bigger scale, clearer signal: ISZs are central to the UK’s growth plan. The single brand aims to attract more large-scale private investment in priority sectors.
- Streamlined delivery: expect faster planning, better coordination across departments and a clearer route to government support.
Hang on a minute, what about Enterprise Zones?
Not to be forgotten, England still has 45 EZs scattered across the country a bit like confetti from an earlier economic strategy. Some EZs overlap neatly with Freeports and Investment Zones, others less so, and their alignment with the new Industrial Strategy varies from place to place.
Most of the original incentives that came with EZs have now expired, but they’re far from redundant. Many EZs still cover key industrial sites and generate valuable retained business rates that support local growth. The government plans to fold EZs into the new Industrial Strategy Zones, so that where an EZ sits inside an ISZ boundary, it can be brought under the same governance structure.
A final thought
Growth zones are only as powerful as the ambition behind them. Rebranding Freeports and Investment Zones as ISZs won’t, on its own, fix regional inequality or spark investment overnight. But it does give local leaders a more coherent, better aligned tool under their belt provided they’re ready to wield it.
Article by Liam Cox, Senior Consultant at AMION.