Issue - meetings

To provide an update to Cabinet on progress with Freeport East, including the Council’s support to the principals of Business Rates Retention within the Freeport East Tax Site, and the next steps required prior to formal Freeport designation.

RESOLVED that Cabinet-

(a)    notes the contents of the report; and

(b)    endorses the urgent decision taken by the Leader of the Council, on behalf of the Cabinet, to provide a letter of support for the principles in regard to Retained Business Rates generated within the Freeport East Tax Site, to accompany the Outline Business Case, as set out in Appendix A to item A.4 of the Report of the Leader of the Council.

Cabinet had before it a report of the Leader of the Council (A.4) which provide it with an update on progress with Freeport East, including the Council’s support of the principles of Business Rates Retention within the Freeport East Tax Site, and the next steps required prior to formal Freeport designation.

Cabinet recalled that, at their meeting held on 23 April 2021, it had received the initial Freeport East report, which had set out the purpose of Freeports and the process and roadmap the public / private sector partnership would follow to receive formal designation by Government. The report had also listed the following steps which would be followed to comply with the process set out by the Government:

·      completion of Governance Arrangements for the Freeport East Board;

·      completion of a Business Case for Freeport East (two phase process submission of an Outline Business Case (OBC) and Full Business Case (FBC), setting out how seed capital funding will be spent and connecting this investment to the wider Freeport proposal and the delivery of the policy objectives); and

·      designation of the Tax Sites and Customs sites authorisation.

Following consideration of the previous Freeport East report, Cabinet had decided, inter alia to:

“note and endorse that the Leader of the Council may be called upon to exercise his delegated powers under the Council’s Constitution, to make urgent single Portfolio Holder decisions in relation to Freeport East, subject to undertaking consultation with the Working Group and reporting back to Cabinet thereafter.”

It was reported that the process was now currently at the OBC stage, which responded to a format prescribed by the Government based on HM Treasury’s five case model and ‘the Green Book’ and additional Setup Phase and Delivery Model Guidance for English Freeports issued by MHCLG. The OBC built on the commercial and operational proposals outlined in the partners’ bid of February 2021 and had been prepared by East Suffolk Council and Hutchison Ports together with partners. The document also examined in more detail the impact Freeport East would have on the area’s most challenged communities, and proposed transformational interventions that would assist in the economic growth and regeneration of the area.  Due to the OBC being a commercially sensitive and confidential document, the details of this were set out in an accompanying confidential “Part B” report, namely item B.1 of the Report of the Leader of the Council.

Cabinet was informed that, although a formal decision was not required by Tendring District Council in relation to the OBC, the Government required a letter of support from each Local Authority for a Business Rates Retention Policy which was required as part of the process.

To that end a meeting of the Leader’s Freeport East Portfolio Holder Working Party had taken place on2 September 2021 to enable consultation with Members on the OBC and the principles of the Business Rates Retention Policy.  The approach had received unanimous support to the Leader of the Council providing a letter of support in respect  ...  view the full minutes text for item 40