What is a Freeport?

The Solent Freeport is an investment in our future, providing both instant impact and long-term benefits.

The Solent already contributes £31billion to the UK economy per annum. Freeport status will add an additional £3.57 billion to UK plc through the GVA uplift, including £1.6billion in direct GVA in the Solent and £1.9 billion in GVA to be generated for the rest of the UK.

It will act as a magnet for an estimated £2 billion of extra investment comprising £1.4 billion from the private sector and £600 million in complementary public sector investment.

While recognising our proud maritime heritage, we don’t live in the past. We have an appetite for innovation and building sustainable, long-term opportunities now and in the future.

The Solent has a track record in translating innovation and new technologies into commercial success. Building on long-standing relationships with our three universities and world-class research assets, the Solent Freeport will support increased R&D funding and innovation in our ports and growth sectors such as Artificial Intelligence.

Building on existing strengths in environmental innovation, the Solent Freeport will support national and local ambitions for net zero by growing capacity for sustainable energy production, improving efficiencies to raise productivity, and investing in environmental mitigation to the impacts of climate change on our communities.

A dedicated Solent Freeport Green Growth Institute (SFGGI) will provide a centre of excellence in green skills and jobs to ensure local communities can benefit from the opportunities created through environmental innovation.

The Solent has three Universities – Southampton, Portsmouth and Solent, each with significant specialisms in marine and maritime.  The University of Southampton is home to the Southampton Marine and Maritime Institute (SMMI), which constitutes world class, authoritative, independent expertise, spanning both the marine and maritime sectors.  The University is also home to the Wolfson Unit, enabling the industry to benefit from the facilities, academic excellence and research activities at the University, and is world renowned for ship model testing, sailing yacht performance and ship design software. With a long tradition as an ocean science pioneer with world leading capabilities, the National Oceanography Centre (NOC) in Southampton is one of the world’s top oceanographic institutions, providing the UK with the national capability needed to be a top global player and to lead and participate in international collaborations, including world leading research in large scale oceanography and ocean measurement technology innovation.

Solent Freeport will support the levelling up of the Solent – an economic area that is heavily influenced by its interaction with the sea, and one which – like many coastal communities across the – UK has a range of socio-economic challenges.  Freeport status provides the opportunity to transform our economy around our world leading maritime excellence and secure a renaissance of our coastal communities through locking in the benefits of the Freeport for local people.

Local sites where job opportunities are to be created are adjacent to Solent communities in the 10% most deprived in the UK, including areas within Portsmouth, Southampton, and Havant, with other notable concentrations located in Gosport, the Isle of Wight, and the New Forest Waterside.

The future economic dividend of the Solent Freeport will be substantial, transforming productivity to level up the Solent workforce to match the UK average by 2025 and become a regional leader by 2030. It will boost earning potential and close the wages gap with the rest of the South East to ensure our residents benefit from job creation and increased prosperity, increasing the earnings capacity of our workforce, regenerating our communities.

The Solent’s location makes it the UK’s most important gateway to European and global markets.

Strategically located at the centre of the south coast of the United Kingdom, with sheltered estuaries and harbours, a double high water, and an outstanding environment, the Solent has a natural coastal geography that has drawn people, international commerce, and innovation for millennia, laying down the strata that have helped shape the Solent as the UK’s Coastal Powerhouse.

This status continues to evolve and strengthen today in a world of increasing globalisation and technological disruption, fuelled by the unparalleled aggregation of marine and maritime assets that have clustered in the Solent, anchored by the flourishing port cities of Southampton and Portsmouth. Our three ports lie just 20 nautical miles from the world’s busiest shipping route from Shanghai to Rotterdam and have direct routes to over 70 ports around the world. We have direct highway and rail links to London and the manufacturing heartlands, and international connections through Southampton Airport. The overall annual value of goods moved through Solent ports is more than £77.5 billion. Exports account for £42.8 billion of this trade, with 85% of these moved through Southampton to the UK’s non-EU trading partners.

The Solent Freeport will seek to harness the Solent’s unrivalled natural capital to pioneer clean growth technology and adaptation to drive productivity within the Freeport and the wider region at the same time as enhancing the quality of the local natural environment for the benefit of our communities. It aims to support the wider environmental, ecology and biodiversity outcomes for the Solent area, and to enhance the quality and accessibility of local environmental assets for the communities of the Solent through recreation and enjoyment of natural green space.