Thames Freeport - Britain's Trading Future

[ 52 ] G R A N T T H O R N T O N U K L L P Each freeport focuses on building on its particular geographic advantage and local skills base — therefore, no two are the same. Each must develop a unique approach in the light of its regional context, sector focus and opportunities but, in each case, the Government is seeking to stimulate economic growth and regeneration that leverages private sector involvement and investment and aligns with Government policy initiatives such as achieving net zero. Grant Thornton’s analysis compares Thames to its freeport peers and highlights a variety of opportunities and challenges that require a bespoke response. Firstly, in comparison to its peers, Thames has a highly skilled resident population and high average workplace earnings. A further dimension is revealed, however, in drilling into the data for the Thames area itself. There are significant variations in the level of qualifications across the London Boroughs which stand to benefit the most from the investment in the Thames Freeport — Barking & Dagenham, Havering and Thurrock. The analysis also reveals that Thames has the highest business formation rate (a useful proxy of levels of entrepreneurship and innovation) of the eight freeports. However, also of note is that it has pockets of above average levels of unemployment and high deprivation within the region. This indicates the scale of the opportunity and the challenge — how to harness the high-skills base to build capacity and new business and at the same time identify where new skills can be developed to support emerging sectors? And how to address geographic need within the Thames Freeport area itself, to ensure all communities benefit from this new investment? The likely response is that this will need to be driven by supporting existing sectors but also by encouraging innovation and opportunity. Currently, employment in all of the freeports is primarily driven by the service sector. In the case of Thames, the service sector provides 85 per cent of overall employment. Many of the freeports are seeking to take this opportunity to pivot towards manufacturing and, in particular, advanced manufacturing and renewables and the associated development of hubs for research and development together with the wider supply chain. Target sectors include the automotive industry, construction and building materials, bio-pharma and chemical goods, marine technology, clean energy and renewables. For Thames, there is a focus on automotive, urban logistics, clean energy generation, and delivering the associated infrastructure to ensure these can grow and thrive. A key success factor will be the Freeport’s ability to attract investment, respond quickly to challenges, and deliver at pace. To facilitate this, it must develop a common vision amongst its stakeholders. This requires clarity over roles and responsibilities with reference to a clear framework in the development of the structures to Freeports form a centrepiece to the Government’s ambition to drive economic growth while levelling up prosperity and opportunity across the UK. The Thames Freeport is one of eight proposed freeport locations in England alongside the East Midlands Airport, Felixstowe and Harwich, Humber, Liverpool City Region, Plymouth, Solent, and Teesside. There are also discussions underway on the prospect of extending this initiative to Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland. Comparison across the eight freeports of the proportion of working age population qualified to NVQ4+ versus workplace mean earnings (£) Workplace earnings (£) — percentiles NVQ 4+ (%) — percentiles Solent Liverpool City Region Thames East Midlands Airport Plymouth Felixstowe and Harwich Humber Teesside 100 100 75 50 25 0 75 50 25 0