A three-pronged submission for an Enterprise Zone in the West Midlands could see the creation of thousands of health and social care jobs, The Business Desk reports.

A bid submitted by the Marches Local Enterprise Partnership (LEP) will seek to create 18,500 jobs across Shrewsbury, Telford and Hereford in industries such as health and social care, advanced manufacturing, environmental technology and defence.

The LEP zone for small and medium businesses (SMEs) would cover 175 hectares of land bringing together three sites: the Telford Technology Park, Hereford Rotherwas Park and in areas around Shrewsbury - dubbed the Shrewsbury 'Arc'.

Business and local authority leaders from Shropshire, Telford and Wrekin and Herefordshire make up the LEP and they hope that their bid is chosen by the Government to make up one of the ten Enterprise Zones for new businesses that were promised by Chancellor George Osborne in his Budget.

According to Shropshire Live, Dr Geoffrey Davies, chairman of the Marches LEP said that the opportunity to become an Enterprise Zone will benefit the region in ways that are distinctly unique from the big cities.

"As one of the first wave of successful LEPs, we wish to seize this opportunity, having been unsuccessful in the first round of Regional Growth Fund bids," he said.

"This proposal will be the backbone of our second round bids, a unique approach to an Enterprise Zone but one which we believe will benefit our rural economy, which operates very differently to those in large cities.

"A multiple site model will provide small and medium sized business growth in the wider economy. The Marches model addresses the unique barriers that the rural nature of the locality presents to business investors."

Dr Davies added that the LEP proposals will create SME jobs in high growth sectors, and help facilitate the planned housing growth of 41,500 new homes by 2026.