Chancellor approves Grangemouth freeport case and frees up £25 million
Grangemouth’s multi-million pound Forth Green Freeport (FGF) has received the blessing of the UK’s Chancellor of the Exchequer.
MP Rachel Reeves confirmed this week the FGF has now received final UK Government approval of their full business case following approval from the Scottish Government in October.
Approval of the FBC is an important step towards unlocking £25 million of seed capital funding to support the reindustrialisation of the FGF area to attract investors and deliver major economic benefits for Scotland.
Following this today’s approval of the business case, FGF chairperson, Dame Susan Rice, three local authorities – Falkirk, Edinburgh and Fife – and both the UK and Scottish governments will sign a “Memorandum of Understanding” to allow the release of the cash.
The projects which have been identified for development to attract inward investment, will then begin.
Focusing on the key target sectors of offshore wind, hydrogen, sustainable fuels, modular manufacturing and logistics, FGF will support the re-industrialisation of Central Scotland and large-scale economic regeneration over the next decade.
Sarah Murray, FGF chief executive officer, said: “This is an important day for Forth Green Freeport as we successfully gain final government approval of our Full Business Case.
"The next step to fully activate the Forth Green Freeport is the signing a Memorandum of Understanding to allow the release of the £25million funding to kick start the initial projects.
"Importantly, the seed capital will be match funded by project leads. We look forward to signing this soon to begin delivery of this important long-term initiative benefiting Scotland and the rest of the UK.”
Chaired by Dame Susan Rice and led by CEO Sarah Murray, FGF became operational in June last year and it is hoped it will attract new businesses and new jobs aided by a suite of tax and customs incentives to deliver real benefits for Scotland and the UK.
A detailed economic impact assessment has projected it will generate £7.9 billion of private and public investment over the next decade and boost gross value added (GVA) by £8.1 billion.
This investment is projected to create up to 34,500 well paid skilled jobs.