Leaders hail importance of freeport for the North
MAYOR AND COUNCIL’S CHIEF JOIN FORCES TO BACK BID FOR INVESTMENT
A NEW North East freeport involving Blyth is ‘absolutely crucial’, Northumberland’s council leader has said.
Last week, the Government opened the bidding process to establish at least seven new freeports in England, with the first expected in 2021, as part of at least 10 across the UK.
Designed to attract major domestic and international investment, areas given freeport status will benefit from a wide package of tax reliefs, simplified customs procedures, streamlined planning processes to boost redevelopment and government support to promote regeneration and innovation.
At Tuesday’s meeting of the North of Tyne Combined Authority’s cabinet, as part of an update on preparations for Brexit, members backed further development of the North East Freeport proposal, which is estimated would lead to more than 1,000 new jobs.
The emerging model is for a ‘multisite, digitally-enabled, zone linking key manufacturing sites with ports, including key assets in the North of Tyne area’, which covers Northumberland, North Tyneside and Newcastle.
The closing date for bids to be submitted to the Government is Friday, February 5, 2021.
THey will be assessed the following month with decisions made in the spring.
North of Tyne Mayor Jamie Driscoll said: “It has been a very hot topic.
“When you ram two words together to encompass an entire approach to trade, it does not really do it justice.
“There have been many models of freeport around the world which have simply displaced economic activity from one place to another or been opportunities for tax avoidance, so am very pleased at the approach we have taken in the North East for a virtual freeport as it is something I think gets around those problems.
“If freeports are the way,then we need to make sure the North East does not lose out in this.”
Northumberland County Council’s leader, Cllr Glen Sanderson, agreed, saying: “I hope very much we will continue to do all we can, working together, to ensure the Government really does understand we cannot miss out up here.”
The report to the meeting explained the proposed model for the region would see goods which enter at a port registered and tracked along transport corridors to their arrival points at manufacturing sites using number plate recognition technology.
Manufactured goods could also be tracked to ports before being exported, retaining the customs and tax benefits of the freeport throughout.