Freeports – Turbo Charging Our Economy
Team Lincolnshire recently hosted a webinar on freeports – one of the most talked about topics amongst business leaders in our area.
You can view the webinar here, but why is a freeport status so significant for our region, and what are they?
What are freeports?
Freeports are usually located around shipping ports, or airports. The goods that arrive into freeports from abroad are exempt from tax charges, (tariffs) that are normally paid to the government. These taxes are only paid if the goods leave the freeport and are moved elsewhere in the UK. Otherwise, they are sent overseas without the charges being paid.
The Humber region is one of eight locations around England which have been identified to become a freeport.
It is hoped freeports - which can be up to 45km (27 miles) across - will help regenerate deprived areas; increasing manufacturing and encourage jobs and investment in areas that would otherwise struggle to attract them. In England, companies inside the sites will be offered temporary tax breaks. These include reductions to the tax companies pay on their existing property, and when they buy new buildings. On 11th May the government confirmed that freeport employers will be able to pay less national insurance for all new workers, from April 2022.
What will it bring to Greater Lincolnshire?
In the webinar Pat Doody, Chair of the Greater Lincolnshire LEP listed a host of reasons why freeport status is so important; hailing it as one of the game changing opportunities for Greater Lincolnshire. It has the potential to protect our businesses and people from pandemic impacts, aid progression in development and innovation and nurture investment opportunity.
Crucially it will help achieve our five year economic plan priorities across our energy ports and logistics, seafood processing and advanced manufacturing sectors.
The Humber is home to one the largest and most far-reaching ports complexes in the UK, and it’s the perfect location to take a leading role in post-Brexit international trade. This presents a massive opportunity for Greater Lincolnshire and will fuel attracting huge investment and jobs for the county, particularly around offshore wind, decarbonisation and advanced manufacturing. Our ports currently employ 35,000 people and handle £74 billion in trade every year. The freeport status has the potential to turbo charge this.
In short, this is a fantastic opportunity to drive long term high value jobs and create a superb platform for inward investment across the region!