Written question asked by Lord Kilclooney (Crossbench) on Monday, 5 September 2022, in the House of Lords. It was due for an answer on Tuesday, 20 September 2022. It was answered by Baroness Bloomfield of Hinton Waldrist (Conservative) on Tuesday, 20 September 2022 on behalf of the Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities.

Freeports

Question: To ask Her Majesty's Government where are the freeports in (1) England, (2) Wales, and (3) Scotland; and whether they intend to establish a freeport in Northern Ireland.

Answer

In March 2021, the Chancellor announced 8 locations as winners of the English Freeports competition: East Midlands Airport, Felixstowe & Harwich (Freeport East), Humber, Liverpool City Region, Plymouth & South Devon, Solent, Teesside, and Thames. Subsequently, Freeports have been working with government to develop business cases and secure the necessary designations in law. Tax sites have now been designated in all English Freeports and customs sites have been designated in Teesside, Thames and, more recently, Solent Freeports.

The UK government is investing £52 million to bring two Green Freeports to Scotland. Bidding has now closed, and we are working jointly with the Scottish Government to jointly assess bids to ensure they meet our shared goals, ahead of announcing winners later in the autumn.

A Welsh Freeport will be backed by £26 million in UK Government funding. The prospectus was published 01 September and it expected that the successful Freeport location will be announced later this year.

We are committed to extending the Freeports programme to Northern Ireland as soon as possible.

Secondary information

Type: Written question
Reference: HL2129
Session: 2022-23
Subjects: Freeports
Link: View this Written question on www.parliament.uk

Freeports

Secondary information

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