A unique opportunity to build?

THE EAST Midlands Freeport is set to generate some 28,000 jobs and add around £9 billion to the value of the East Midlands economy over the next 25 years and its ambitions rest on the development of some 15 million ft2 of industrial and logistics space across three sites totalling 1,300 acres to do it.

Freeports are similar to free zones, or ‘enterprise zones’, which are designated areas subject to a broad array of special regulatory requirements, tax breaks and government support. The difference is that a Freeport is designed to specifically encourage businesses that import, process and then re-export goods. A freeport customs site is a secure, enclosed customs zone where a business can import or export goods inside the UK’s land border but where different import or export rules apply and remain subject to robust ongoing oversight from HMRC. To be eligible to operate as a customs site, businesses need to be within 45km of the freeport

The three sites: East Midlands Airport & Gateway Industrial Cluster, East Midlands Intermodal Park, and the Ratcliffe-on-Soar Power station redevelopment site benefit from a zero rate of secondary national insurance contributions for freeport employees, enhanced capital allowance for plant and machinery, enhanced structures and buildings allowance, and relief from both stamp duty land tax and business rates until 2031.

But getting these sites up and running, in a relatively tight time frame when planning can take years to secure, is an issue. All three sites are being put forward as Nationally Significant Infrastructure Projects as they meet the criteria set out by government to allow any planning application to be considered to be so big and nationally important that permission to build them needs to be given at a national rather than regional or local level.

The Planning Inspectorate will consider the application and will consult with local authorities and other interested parties before deciding whether or not to suggest that a DCO is approved and should this be the case then this will then put forward to the relevant Secretary of State to decide to grant the DCO.

It is not without controversy, already initial moves by Manchester Airport Group with its outline planning application to North West Leicestershire Council for a 1.5 million ft2 logistics hub south of its East Midlands Airport – one of the UK’s premier air freight locations - has set locals campaigning against the development garnering support from North West Leicestershire’s newly elected local labour MP Amada Hack who says it will be detrimental to local villages citing flooding, noise and air pollution as well as highways issues.

The proposed site is part of the East Midlands Airport & Gateway Industrial Cluster, and the outline application is likely to be superseded by the larger more comprehensive scheme being put through the DCO process by investor developer SEGRO which owns the 5 million ft2 East Midlands Gateway development to the north of the of the site and has historic options on surrounding land to extend.

SEGRO head of national markets Dan Holford says: “With SEGRO Logistics Park East Midlands Gateway now fully occupied, we continue to see strong demand for further rail related development. Our DCO application covers the land designated as Freeport south of EMA/SLPEMG. We expect to submit the application early next year and have been working closely with all stakeholders, including the Freeport itself.”

Early oversight of the overarching East Midlands Gateway 2 scheme envisages the delivery of additional logistics and manufacturing facilities including a substantial logistics campus and co-located headquarters functions for Maersk totalling some 4.3 million ft2 with extensions to the rail freight terminal already operating at EMG1.

The site totalling 259 acres comprises land immediately south of East Midlands Airport and to the east of the village of Diseworth. It is located immediately west/north-west of Junction 23A of the M1 motorway and approximately 3 km south of Junction 24. 

Holford says: “Based on the employment generation at SEGRO Logistics Park East Midlands Gateway, we estimate this site will generate in the order of 4,000 direct jobs.”

Developer Goodman is pushing forward with its DCO application on the East Midlands Intermodal Park adjacent to the Toyota manufacturing plant to the southwest of Derby to develop one of the next generation of rail connected business parks. The scheme will see the development of an intermodal terminal that will include container handling equipment and storage facilities, railway sidings and a rail-head shunt with a connection to the existing railway line, supported by six million ft2 of storage and industrial warehousing.

The redevelopment of the 675-acre Ratcliffe on Soar Power station has already been given permission by the local authority through a Local Development Order. Owner Uniper says proposals which include manufacturing, industrial and logistics space development, could include sustainable onsite energy generation and a centre for innovation, bringing together industry and academia to help identify and develop the technologies, solutions and skills needed to help meet the UK’s Net Zero commitment. It is thought the site could support up to 8,000 jobs.

Overall Holford says: “The Freeport presents a unique opportunity to build on the established multi-modal (road, rail, air) provision in this area and to enhance it through measures such as net zero carbon development, comprehensive skills and training packages and the ability to make strategic investment in infrastructure for example emerging hydrogen technologies.”