AN economic review presented to St Helens Council's Development Committee reveals that the town enjoyed an economic boom time last year with a significant increase in new business attracted to the borough.

The 1996 figures showed an increase in the number of economic inquiries and in the amount of land and premises take-up in the borough over the previous year.

The number of general interest inquiries and specific ones for employment sites and premises in St Helens totalled 503, a 36 per cent increase over 1995 (369).

The review, the first to be carried out for St Helens, was undertaken by St Helens Economic Development Monitoring Group and aimed to bring together under one cover the various economic information and includes details on demand, supply, take-up and new business start-up, as well as providing a general overview of the years economic activity.

A large percentage of inquiries were geographically concentrated around the centre of St Helens, Parr and Sutton, with Haydock and Lea Green also proving popular. However, the majority of the economic inquiries were generally borough-wide.

There has been a significant upsurge in the take-up of economic land in the last two years. Take-up in 1995 was nearly six times greater than the average for 1980 to 1993 and nine times greater in 1996. During 1996, 21 hectares of the economic land supply was developed, an increase of seven hectares over the previous year.

At the same time the total amount of premises take-up also rose quite significantly - a total of 775,000 square feet of industrial and commercial premises floorspace was taken up, 15 per cent more than for 1995 and 52 per cent up on 1994.

The creation of new business start-ups plays an important part in the regeneration of the area. During 1996, St Helens Chamber of Commerce, Training and Enterprise assisted in the creation of 255 new business start-ups by providing business counselling and advice, together with financial assistance.

Councillor John Fletcher, chairman of the Development Committee, said: "The review provides some very heartening news for the borough. There is no doubt that the council's partnership with the private sector is helping to bring new industry and jobs to St Helens."

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