Two freeports confirmed for Wales

Two freeports have been con­firmed for Wales by the UK and Welsh gov­ern­ments.

Celtic Freeport, cov­er­ing Mil­ford Haven and Port Tal­bot, and Angle­sey Freeport will each be backed by £26 mil­lion in seed fund­ing by the UK gov­ern­ment.

The sites were cho­sen to exploit oppor­tu­ni­ties from renew­able ener­gies and the gov­ern­ment said they would ‘make a sig­nif­i­cant con­tri­bu­tion to achiev­ing the UK’s net zero ambi­tions’. They will aim to attract £5 bil­lion in pri­vate and pub­lic invest­ment and cre­ate over 20,000 high-skilled jobs by 2030.

Freeports ben­e­fit from a range of sub­si­dies, includ­ing tax reliefs, cus­toms advan­tages, reduced busi­ness rates, plan­ning, regen­er­a­tion and trade and invest­ment sup­port.

Tax incen­tives include enhanced cap­i­tal allowances, relief from stamp duty land tax and reduced employ­er nation­al insur­ance con­tri­bu­tions (NICs) for new employ­ees.

First Min­is­ter of Wales, Mark Drake­ford, said:

‘The Welsh gov­ern­ment has a clear eco­nom­ic mis­sion to trans­form the Welsh econ­o­my, cre­at­ing a stronger, fair­er and green­er future. The des­ig­na­tion of these sites as Wales’s first freeports will rein­force that mis­sion, build­ing on the sig­nif­i­cant invest­ments and part­ner­ships we have made in these regions over many years.

‘The joint work­ing between gov­ern­ments on the freeport pro­gramme should serve as a blue­print for future inter­gov­ern­men­tal work on a whole range of issues.’

Inter­net link: GOV.WALES