Cromarty Firth And Forth To Host First Green Freeports
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13/01/2023Cromarty Firth And Forth To Host First Green Freeports
Sites at Cromarty Firth and the Forth have been selected to host Scotland’s first green freeports, beating a Clyde Green Freeport bid which would have included Greenock Ocean Terminal.
The winning bids were revealed in a joint announcement by the UK and Scottish governments.
The special economic zones north of the border are being created under a scheme agreed upon by the two governments.
The successful applicants will be able to offer tax incentives and lower tariffs in the zones.
A total of five bids for green freeport status were submitted, with North East Scotland, Orkney and Clyde missing out.
Each had to set out how they would regenerate their area, create high-quality jobs and support the transition to a net-zero economy.
The Forth Green Freeport bid was led by Forth Ports, which owns and operates seven ports on the east coast of Scotland.
Forth Ports said the freeport had the potential to create up to 50,000 new, high-quality jobs in renewable energy, manufacturing, sustainable fuels and construction.
Its activities will focus on renewables, advanced manufacturing, alternative fuels, carbon capture utilisation and storage, shipbuilding, logistics and the creative industries.
The Opportunity Cromarty Firth consortium – backed by Port of Cromarty Firth, Global Energy Group, Highland Resources and Port of Inverness – said it could create 25,000 jobs.
The Inverness and Cromarty Firth bid aims to build a “world-beating” floating offshore wind manufacturing sector, with sites in the Cromarty Firth, Invergordon, Nigg and Inverness.
Inverclyde Council leader Councillor Stephen McCabe said
“We are disappointed that our ambitious Clyde Green Freeport bid was unsuccessful in being selected as one of the two Green Freeports in Scotland. It’s particularly disappointing that this has come in the same week that Amazon announced plans to close the Gourock distribution centre with the loss of around 300 jobs.
“Establishing a Clyde Green Freeport would have been transformational for the local economy as well as the greater Glasgow City Region by creating up to 30,000 new jobs, attracting £2.5 billion of capital investment, and the potential to also transform nearly 600 hectares of vacant and derelict land in key locations across the region
“A successful bid would also have resulted in investment into Greenock Ocean Terminal, expanding capacity and continuing the ongoing regeneration of Inverclyde.
“Now that we are in post-covid economic recovery, the region needs an economic boost more than ever. An opportunity to regenerate areas and those which were significantly impacted by the pandemic should be of high importance.
“Looking ahead and having gone through this bid process and projecting the economic gains that it would bring to our region, we hope that there will be a consideration to potentially grant a further Green Freeport within Scotland. Here in Inverclyde, the council remains in the mix for funding from the UK Government’s Levelling Up Fund for our ambitious £21m plans to transform the heart of Greenock Town Centre and we will use this experience to help us with that bid and, hopefully, deliver a regeneration project that would benefit Inverclyde as well as the wider City Region.
“We will also use our new Inverclyde Socio-Economic Task Force, which now takes on even greater significance in light of this disappointing result, to continue to work with the Scottish and UK governments and other partner agencies on other opportunities to benefit the area and wider region.”
Dr. Liz Cameron CBE, Chief Executive of the Scottish Chambers of Commerce, said:
“It is great news for Scottish Business that the UK and Scottish Governments have finally confirmed the sites of the two winning bids. It’s important now that both governments act swiftly to ensure that the successful sites are operational at the earliest opportunity, we are all competing to attract investment and trade.
“Whilst it will be very disappointing for those areas who were not successful, we would urge both governments to now consider, in partnership with the business community, other incentives and initiatives which could be developed from the innovation demonstrated by the other bidders.”
