Agenda item

To provide a high level update to Cabinet and to seek support for Tendring District Council to form part of the Freeport East Board and develop governance arrangements for future partnership working in order to meet the timescales set by Government for the formal designation of Freeport East.

RESOLVED that Cabinet –

a) supports Tendring District Council forming part of a Freeport East Board and developing governance arrangements for future partnership working within the context of this report;

b) notes that the Leader of the Council will allocate Freeport East to his Portfolio and be the lead Member Representative on the Freeport East Board, or similar, if required;

c) welcomes the Leader’s intention to form a cross-party Portfolio Holder Working Group to ensure consultation and engagement across the Council;

d) notes and endorses 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;

e) delegates authority to the Chief Executive to nominate such officers he determines to be appointed as officer representatives to any Freeport Board, shadow or otherwise, steering group, or similar; and

f) approves the inclusion of the Freeport East project within the Corporate Key Priority Actions for 2021/22, to ensure progress is monitored, acknowledging milestones will need to be formulated as the project progresses.

The Cabinet gave consideration to a report of the Leader of the Council (A.6) which provided it with a high level update and sought its support for Tendring District Council to form part of the Freeport East Board and develop governance arrangements for future partnership working in order to meet the timescales set by Government for the formal designation of Freeport East.

Members were aware that throughout 2020, the Council had worked with public and private sector partners on a bid to present a compelling case for developing Freeport East (which included Harwich International Port and Felixstowe Ports, as one of the Government’s nominated Freeports, following the UK’s exit from the EU.

It was reported that, following an announcement by the Chancellor of the Exchequer at his budget speech on 3 March 2021, written confirmation had been received by Government that: ‘Freeport East bid has been selected to progress to the next stage of Freeport designation.’

Cabinet was reminded that, essentially, Freeports were innovative hubs, which boosted global trade, attract inward investment and increased prosperity in the surrounding area. The formation of Freeport East, which was a combined bid covering the ports of Harwich and Felixstowe, was expected to create over 13,500 jobs. Many of those would be highly skilled. In addition, goods brought into a Freeport did not normally attract a requirement to pay duties until they left the Freeport and entered the domestic market. No duty at all was payable if they were re-exported.

Cabinet was made aware that there were now several steps required before confirmation of Freeport status and Civil Servants would be working with partners towards formal confirmation. The key elements of this would be:

Ø Completion of Governance Arrangements for the Freeport East Board;

Ø 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 would be spent and connecting this investment to the wider Freeport proposal and the delivery of the policy objectives); and

Ø Designation of the Tax Sites and Customs sites authorisation.

Members were informed that a Freeport was a cross-sector and cross-industry development. Freeport East was based upon a partnership between both private and public sectors. Appropriate governance arrangements would be required and developed on the basis of partnership working and joint approaches, in which the District Council would play a part. Determining those governance arrangements was an early part of the process and Government had confirmed that they were looking for Freeports to be designated by the end of 2021, so any delay in local decision making could impact on timescales and the ability to receive Government’s approval.

It was likely that throughout the formation of the Freeport work programme, Cabinet would be required to make further decisions, and where possible those would be taken through the normal Cabinet cycle. If the Leader of the Council was required to exercise his urgency powers and take a Portfolio Holder decision, he would do so following consultation with a Portfolio Holder’s working group and would reporting back to Cabinet at its next meeting.

Having considered the contents of the Leader of the Council’s update report:-

It was moved by Councillor Stock OBE, seconded by Councillor G V Guglielmi and:-