Thames Freeport - Britain's Trading Future

[ 1 ] The Government has the ambition to drive economic growth with a focus on levelling up across the UK. As part of this aim, freeports have been identified as a way to drive local growth with eight locations in England announced by the Government in the March 2021 Chancellor’s Budget. Freeports are designed to boost local growth by providing tax incentives within an area to encourage businesses to locate there. They’re considered ‘outside the country’ for customs purposes. This means that goods can enter and re-exit the port without incurring the usual import procedures or tariffs. Alongside tax benefits, the government is offering access to simplified planning processes and infrastructure funding to accelerate economic growth in the area. This signals a desire to support investment in freeport areas to drive growth. There is, for example, the opportunity for councils to retain business rates growth above an agreed baseline. This would be guaranteed for 25 years, giving councils the certainty they need to borrow to invest in regeneration and infrastructure that will support further growth. It is expected that freeports will play a major part in the government’s broader economic strategy to shape the UK in a post-Brexit landscape and, hence, there’s a need for a clear narrative on how they’ll operate and deliver benefits. A prerequisite is a business case that sets out the level of additional benefits flowing from freeports, and how they will deliver this as a partnership of the public and private sectors. This is important not only to address the argument that freeports might displace economic activity from elsewhere, but also to demonstrate how they’re fully aligned and integrated with other policy areas and are able to deliver at pace across local government boundaries. Thames Freeport was one of the top-scoring bids submitted in the decision-making process for determining freeport locations. Freeports Overview