Boost for Freeport Bid as Thames Enterprise Park joins London Gateway, Port of Tilbury and Ford
New partner reinforces regeneration and clean growth potential and brings even more reasons for Government to back the bid.
The bid for a freeport on the Thames is now even stronger. Thames Enterprise Park – a 669-acre former oil refinery development site shortly to become a manufacturing, logistics and clean energy hub – is joining the bid.
Located directly next to DP World London Gateway, Thames Enterprise Park will bring additional development and expansion land to the bid, as well as add to its vision for a clean fuel hydrogen network that aligns closely with the UK’s net zero carbon agenda.
Thames Enterprise Park is one of the largest regeneration projects in the UK and bringing it into the bid as a customs sub-zone means that the transformative impact of freeport status will be even greater – a key objective of the Government’s freeport policy.
Stuart Wallace from the Thames Freeport bid consortium, said: “Size matters more than ever for UK plc. A Thames Freeport ability to deliver transformational gains across trade, investment, jobs, levelling up and regeneration is substantial and just got even bigger. By boosting the bid with Thames Enterprise Park, we are taking the potential impact of our bid up a gear, which is great news for everyone who wants to see the region succeed and thrive.”
Kate Willard OBE, the Government’s Estuary Envoy and Chair of Thames Estuary Growth Board, added: “Thames Enterprise Park is a potentially transformational project in its own right but, by bringing it into the bid, we are amplifying the total regeneration and clean growth benefits of the freeport even further. The Thames needs a freeport and our argument for that is now even stronger.”
Jonathan Whittingham, Director of Thames Enterprise Park, commented: “By bringing Thames Enterprise Park into the bid, we can unlock many more benefits than might otherwise have been possible. It means that the bid can go further in stimulating the economic, social and environmental benefits not only for Thurrock and for the estuary region, but also for the UK. That’s something that we want to be part of and where we see that we can contribute to a collective success story.”
Following recent formal backing from Thurrock Borough Council and the Barking and Dagenham Council, the team is fine tuning the freeport bid ahead of submission to the Government by 5 February.
The Thames Freeport bid now contains the operations, development land and infrastructure spanning the two port operations at London Gateway and Tilbury, plus Ford Dagenham and a major regeneration site at Thames Enterprise Park. This combination, totalling in excess of 1,600 acres, is directly aligned to what the Government has set out to achieve through its freeport policy and its bidding process.
It gives the Thames Freeport bid even greater potential and an even stronger evidence base to put to Government in order to secure freeport status.
See the Thames Freeport website / / pages for more information.
Contact details
For more information about the Thames Freeport bid, contact John Stevenson on john.stevenson@potll.com or 07824 621756
For information about Thames Enterprise Park, contact Ben Copithorne on bcopithorne@camargue.uk or 07968 748125 / 020 7636 7366
Notes to editors
- Regeneration through job creation: 25,000+ new jobs, with significant investment in training and skills
- 1,600+ acres of development land – much with planning consent.
- £400 million port investment into some of the most deprived areas.
- 20% of the UK’s most deprived communities are in London and the South East
- Thurrock is among the country’s top 25 most skills-deprived areas
- Barking and Dagenham is ranked in the top five local authorities for deprivation.
- Freeports in our DNA – DP World began as a free trade zone in Jebel Ali, while Tilbury was a freeport until 2012.
- A centre of excellence to electrify, automate and digitise catalysing the Thames’ net zero transformation.
The Thames Freeport bid is backed by our local MPs and many businesses, alongside Barking and Dagenham Council, Be First, Essex Chamber of Commerce, London First, Opportunity South Essex, the Port of London Authority, the Rail Freight Group, the Thames Estuary Growth Board, Thurrock Business Board, Thurrock Council, Transport East and the South East LEP.
