Yes, well I could have told them it wouldn't work

From the FT:

Some of Britain’s enterprise zones have yet to create a single job in a sign that a flagship government economic policy could fail to meet expectations...

Keith Wakefield, Labour leader of Leeds city council, told the Financial Times: “We have got the zone in the right place but we do not have the demand. We want to encourage advanced manufacturing, healthcare and the digital and creative sector. I still think there is more that the government has to do to persuade businesses to invest...”

The zones offer companies up to £275,000 off business rates, simplified planning procedures and superfast broadband. Some also attract capital allowances or EU-backed grants because of local economic deprivation. Those that have prospered tend to have existing activity and buildings ready to move into.

The simple explanation is that if the only tax break is a reduction in Business Rates (a super-tax on the rents, nominally payable by the tenant), then all that happens is the landlords put the rent up by the amount of the Business Rates cut. This is a widely observed fact.

Even the capital allowance breaks are ultimately futile. A developer of some offices in an Enterprise Zone told me that he could sell them off for twice as much as anywhere else nearby because people just capitalised the value of the tax breaks. And he also told me that he was happy to overpay for the land when he started because he knew he'd be able to sell the finished offices at a premium etc.

And EU-backed grants are a recipe for disaster.