Industrial Areas of Cannock Chase (UK)
In Cannock Chase 5 areas were identified as potential BIZ projects. The first three, Orbital Retail Park, Cannock Wood and A5 Cannock, all border or are located in the town of Cannock (pop 29,018) and most of the employees are Cannock residents. Power Station Road to the North East of Cannock borders the town of Rugeley (pop 22,724) Finally Fradley Business Park to the South East of Cannock is located near the City of Litchfield (pop 32,219).
The MoMa.BIZ project proved very challenging to deliver in the Cannock area and despite high levels of resources being directed at its implementation, the project partner failed to achieve all of the results that it should have. The strategy of trying to develop 5 BIZ areas at the same time was over ambitious and as a consequence diluted the level of time and resource that was focused on each BIZ area and ultimately failed to generate the long term relations or the critical mass of businesses on each site necessary to form an effective BIZ. A single focus with an on-going presence and higher project profile would have had more impact. That with-standing a number of lessons have been learned and articulated in the report and a number of stakeholders and initiatives identified who want to build on and continue the work of the MoMa.BIZ project.