Thames Freeport - Britain's Trading Future

[ 103 ] The Association has a shared ambition to deliver transformational change in prosperity with significant growth plans throughout the area in line with the vision for the Thames Estuary, recognising that opportunities and challenges do not stop at local authority boundaries. ASELA submitted its South Essex 2050 Growth and Recovery Prospectus to government in July 2020 setting out a joint place-based vision for the future growth of the area. The strength and focus of the partnership is tackling problems that cannot be solved by individual authorities, creating collective scale and impact and providing place leadership to promote South Essex. The vision for South Essex 2050 is to ensure that it’s the place to live, the place to visit, and the place for business to thrive. It covers a range of essentials for growth including creating high quality places to live, delivering housing and employment needs, investing in infrastructure and improving the environment. ASELA has five key “anchor programmes” of regional and strategic significance for sustainable economic growth and which bind together a shared agenda across seven different local authorities and multiple businesses, partners and stakeholders. Significant progress has been made in several areas to deliver growth and prosperity for all residents and businesses across South Essex. One of those anchor programmes — and undoubtedly the game changer — is the Thames Freeport. Thames Freeport will be a key feature of Britain’s trading future and will drive economic growth across the Thames Estuary. As a national and international hub for global trade and investment across the UK, it will deliver regeneration and job creation in areas in urgent need of levelling up, including 21,000+ new and sustainable jobs with many more across supply chains, and significant investment in training and skills. To maximise the impact of the socioeconomic opportunities that the Thames Freeport offers to the wider community, ASELA’s other anchor programmes are integrated in their ambition and delivery of key, mutually beneficial economic enablers including superfast digital connectivity, housing and infrastructure, skills and training The ports and airport are a gateway to the UK and the world — a catalyst for increased business growth and skilled employment, offering South Essex a unique opportunity to trade with the rest of the world Port of Tilbury