Thames Freeport - Britain's Trading Future

[ 3 ] The private investment needed to drive this regeneration can be attracted to freeports through the model’s tax measures, seed capital, an appropriate planning environment, good governance, a strong local skills base and the support of government in attracting foreign investors. Supporting emerging industrial clusters By targeting particular sectors that are present and growing in the local economy, freeports may be able to support emerging clusters. Industrial strengths and clusters can be identified using several methods, from statistics on industries ranked by local job share to Economic Complexity Analysis. Moreover, as freeports draw investment and become increasingly occupied by similar, or complementary firms, the Government expects other firms wanting to expand into freeport areas to benefit from the shared inputs, labour market pooling and knowledge spill-overs that clustering provides. Property Some of these clustering benefits have been observed even at the neighbourhood or office level. Commercial property development should attract larger “anchor firms” around which other firms can cluster or ensuring that estates are well-designed to promote beneficial mixing of workers. Transport As business activity grows, some freeports may find that road congestion increases within the freeport site and the wider travel to work area. Increasing journey times for freight and passenger transport both add to the cost of business and slow growth. These challenges can be tackled by aligning business with existing or planned infrastructure investment and tackling marginal gaps in site viability, while remaining focused on the needs of target sectors. For example, a rail terminal may be expecting to receive an upgrade but is in a sub-optimal location for a target sector, which is currently clustered in a different locality. The freeports logic model, linking inputs, outputs and outcomes to objectives Freeports will be dynamic environments that bring together innovators to collaborate in new ways, while offering controlled spaces to develop and trial new ideas and technologies National hubs for global trade and investment Promote regeneration and job creation Create hotbeds for innovation Government objectives Local area characteristics, assets, vulnerabilities and needs Baseline Customs benefits Business support through tax relief and allowances Infrastructure (physical and digital) Investment in innovation Land remediation with simplified planning Education and skills training Indicative activities Post infrastructure improvements Job creation Remediated land Creation of commercial space Infrastructure developments Business trading through freeports Higher wages in freeport areas Business expansions Developments of floor space New business start-ups Collaboration between local firms and universities Indicative outputs • Increase in total trade throughput • Increased investment within freeport boundary, surrounding areas and nationally • Increased employment and wages in deprived areas near freeport • Increased economic activity • Increased innovation investment • Increased productivity Measurable outcomes