Plymouth City Council has announced two multi-million pound investments in the Plymouth and South Devon Freeport.
Members will hear the plans for the £15.6m investment this week as part of the Freeport's annual update. The first is a £6.5m investment in a further phase of the Oceansgate development, which sill deliver 1,772 sq m of lettable space for manufacturing and synthetic testing, creating 49 jobs.
The second is a £9.1m investment in industrial units at Langage Business Park which will deliver 5,615 sq m of flexible, high quality, sustainable workspace, split across four different units at Beaumont Way and create 138 jobs.
Councillor Tudor Evans OBE, leader of Plymouth City Council, said: “One of our key priorities is driving green investment, jobs and skills. The Freeport does exactly that. This is an historic opportunity for Plymouth to fully orientate our economy into delivering more skilled jobs and become a core international trading location. It is my priority now to make sure it delivers, driving forward our plans to create at least 3,500 jobs across the city.
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“We want the Freeport to not only be an economic boost for the city, but also be a hotbed of innovation. Whilst these plans are still in their infancy, it is clear that we are ambitious and driven to move forward at pace. The end result will be that we not only attract investment, and stimulate growth in green technologies to help our economy, but we put Plymouth on the map as a city where it makes financial sense to do business.”
Councillors at next week’s Growth and Infrastructure Overview and Scrutiny Committee will hear more about what has been achieved, as well as a preview of what is planned over the next few months.
The Freeport in Plymouth and South Devon is a zone designated by the Government with certain allowances to boost the economy, such as lower taxes and customs. The Freeport aims to "unlock millions of pounds worth of funding for the region", encouraging a resurgence of economic activity with businesses more inclined to open in the area. In turn, the council hopes that this will create thousands more jobs and bring vast investment into the local community.
Since the business case for the Freeport was green lit in December 2022 its first private sector investment as Devonport-based Babcock secured a multi-million pound contract in partnership with Devon defence vehicle designer and manufacturer Supacat, to deliver 90 new jobs and enable Babcock to expand its operations in the Freeport’s South Yard tax site.
A consortium led by the council has also been awarded £916,000 from the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy to develop a framework for testing autonomous and prototype maritime vessels for research and development.
The Freeport has aligned itself with Plymouth and Devon Chamber of Commerce and Plymouth Manufacturers Group to target businesses with high import/re-export activity. Plus all three local authorities covered by the Freeport outer boundary have committed to achieving net zero by 2050 or earlier.
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