POLITICS
credits for local R&D activity and lower rates of employment tax for any new employment created. When added together, the regional benefits of
a Freeport include significant job creation, significant increase in GVA from new economic activity, improved local infrastructure as businesses and workers move into a growing economy, and increases in regional skills development as people look to enter high-skilled employment in and around the Freeport.
SO WHY THE EAST MIDLANDS? The competitiveness and success of a Freeport in the UK will rely on the geographic location of the port, access to a network of transport services serving the relevant markets, access to a cost-effective land bank for the construction of factories and distribution centres and access to labour. With these factors in mind, there is nowhere in
the UK better suited for a Freeport than the East Midlands region. The Midlands makes a £222bn annual contribution in GVA to the UK economy and this has grown by 30% over the past decade. The Midlands is also home to around 460,000 SMEs and micro-enterprises, many of which are an essential part of the supply and service chain supporting larger businesses in the area. The Midlands has a nationally leading
advanced manufacturing and engineering base that employs 637,000 people and accounts for 19.7% of the UK’s manufacturing output. This is
closely linked to a number of key high-value, wealth creating industrial sectors, such as transport technology, healthcare, life-sciences, pharmaceutical, energy and low-carbon technology. The region also has a strong financial and
business services sector and, through the Midlands Engine, is well linked internationally and is promoted as an attractive inward investment proposition. The East Midlands region has direct motorway
or trunk road access to every major city in the country, making 90% of the UK’s population accessible within a four-hour truck drive. The region is also home to East Midlands
Airport, a regional passenger airport that serves five million people a year, but that is also the UK’s largest - and Europe’s seventh largest - dedicated freight airport. Handling 370,000 tonnes of cargo annually with an estimated value of around £40bn, the airport plays a nationally important role in the import and export economy and is a significant contributor to UK Plc. The airport is a global hub for logistics giants
DHL, UPS, FedEx, Amazon and Royal Mail and has available runway capacity to triple the amount of cargo it handles. East Midlands Airport has significant property development opportunities and is surrounded by land that has the potential to be developed in the local area. In addition to this, the airport sits immediately adjacent to the SEGRO Logis tics Gateway site,
home to over six million sq ft of warehousing space and a dedicated strategic rail freight interchange, operated by logistics leaders Maritime. Located just the other side of the M1 sits the Ratcliffe-on-Soar Power Station, a significant coal fired power station that is scheduled for decommission and redevelopment by 2025. All of these sites have already been designated as key growth engines by the newly formed regional Development Corporation, which is looking to combine industrial growth with the creation of new living spaces and around 20,000 new homes. When added together, these unique
ingredients combine to create what we believe is the most compelling case in the UK for an inland Freeport, with the potential to create over 40,000 new jobs, increase international trade throughout to around £150bn, and drive regional GVA growth by around £4bn. If the Government is serious about ‘levelling up’ the economy, then this is a perfect place to start.
To find out more, please contact Chris Hayton, Director of Corporate Affairs, at
chris.hayton@eastmidlandsairport.com
business network March 2020 63
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