Chertsey’s Longcross Park, once a secret military test facility, is due to become part of EZ³, The UK’s forty-eighth so-called enterprise zone. Designed to encourage the local economy by providing businesses with subsidies, tax breaks and fast-track planning permissions, the Longcross site will also include a data center.

The Longcross test track, also known as Chobham, was widely used for TV and movie chase scenes. It featured “the snake”, a road built with tricky corners to hinder vehicles, including tanks which were built in a factory on the site. 

Bringing home the bacon, to Surrey 

Consent has been obtained for a 385,000 sq ft facility, although further specifications as to what surface area will be dedicated technical space or who is responsible for its construction are yet to be disclosed. Alongside this will be 850,000 sq ft of offices, with further proposals for retail and leisure facilities underway. The two other EZ³ sites are located in Basingstoke and Bordon, and together the three sites span over 100 acres of land.  

The enterprise zone status, which allows for 100 percent business rate discount for five years, up to the state aid threshold of (approximately) £275,000 ($340,000), with 100 percent of the business rates generated over 25 years to be retained and invested locally, was obtained through the concerted efforts of local councils, Aviva Investors and the Homes & Communities Agency. Twelve enterprise zones have been approved across the UK this week. 

Longcross park, formerly the Defence Evaluation and Research Agency (DERA), served as a military vehicle testing facility until 2005, and was opened to the public as a racing track in 2009. It is also home to Longcross Studios, where parts of Fast & Furious 6, Skyfall, and other movies were filmed.