Chancellor announces eight freeports for England
The Budget 2021 speech delivered by Chancellor Rishi Sunak outlined plans to set up freeports in England.
The eight freeports are:
- East Midlands Airport
- Felixstowe and Harwich
- Humber
- Liverpool City Region
- Plymouth
- Solent
- Thames (including London Gateway and Tilbury)
- Teesside
Freeports are internationally established economic zones with different rules to make it easier and cheaper to do business.
UK Freeports will have:
- Simpler planning
- Infrastructure funding
- Cheaper customs
- Lower taxes
Alan Shaoul, chief financial officer at DP World in the UK (owner of the port and logistics park, London Gateway), said: “We are open for business and would urge anyone looking to expand to get in touch to find out more about the benefits of locating at Thames Freeport. Our London Gateway site alone has almost 10m square feet of land that has planning consent, and the capacity to expand materially its operational area and therefore attract new foreign direct investment within the lifetime of this parliament.”
Logistics UK general manager of public policy Alex Veitch added: “Logistics UK welcomes the government's commitment to a Freeport programme. We are confident these will support business and industry in these locations and urge the government to consider expanding the programme.”
The North East England Freeport, based around the ports of Tyne and Blyth expressed disappointment at not being chosen.
A statement said: “After four years developing the bid, we are naturally disappointed by this decision. It was a once in a generation opportunity to transform the lives of millions of people.”
UKWA CEO Peter Ward sounded a less positive note about the concept.
“We remain skeptical on the value of freeports, particularly to UK based industries such as the automotive sector, where most manufacturers already have well-established supply chain infrastructure,” he said.