Freeport plans are great
ALAN MAK, MP for Havant
I CONSISTENTLY voted in parliament to deliver Brexit, ensuring we fully left the EU at the start of this year.
Part of my determination to get Brexit done was ensuring that the benefits of Brexit were felt by Havant constituency residents that supported the Leave campaign.
That’s why when the go vernment announced its Freeport plans, I backed a bid put together for our area, which included using Dunsbury Park, near Leigh Park, as a key site for the Freeport and the gateway to the international ports based in Portsmouth and Southampton.
My strong political effort included lobbying ministers and writing to the c hancellor in support of the proposal.
I t was brilliant news f or the Havant constituency and our region when the chancellor announced in the budget plans for a Solent Freeport.
This was a competitive process and the c hancellor only announced eight successful locations from 18 areas that made bids.
The Freeport area, such as Dunsbury
Park, will receive tax reliefs to incentivise businesses to create jobs and attract inward investment. These include the potential to bring tax reliefs, simplified customs procedures and streamlined planning processes to promote regeneration and innovation.
The Solent LEP estimate that the new freeport will attract £2billion of investment and create 52,000 jobs – all a direct result of our decision to leave the EU.
This is great news for the Havant c onstituency and builds on the p rime m inister’s promise to level up the country and help areas like Leigh Park.
Even before the announcement Dunsbury Park was a growing and thriving business park. I was fortunate to open FatFace’s new distribution centre there in 2017 and visited Breeze Van Centre, which opened in 2019.
But the new Freeport has the potential to provide a real boost to the Dunsbury Park site and I look forward to watching it grow and create high quality local j obs for residents.