The North East LEP is submitting a bid to create a Free Trade Zone, driving economic growth across the region and acting as a catalyst for investment and regeneration.

The LEP has announced that they’re putting the bid together alongside a number of partners including:

  • Port of Blyth
  • Port of Sunderland
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  • Newcastle International Airport
  • North East Combined Authority
  • North of Tyne Combined Authority
  • Business Durham
  • CBI
  • University of Sunderland
  • Durham University
  • Newcastle University
  • Northumbria University
  • The Offshore Energy Catapult
  • NEXUS

A number of the regional stakeholders involved will be present and speaking at our upcoming North East Economic Growth & Development Conference.

The bid will aim to protect and enhance trade and investment potential, helping to regenerate key sites and create jobs.

Lucy Winskell, Chair of the North East LEP, said: “Freeports offer the potential to generate new employment, revitalise our coastal areas and significantly boost the local economy. Over the past few months, we have been working very closely with a range of partners to prepare the ground for a collaborative bid which underlines the ambition and determination of the region to succeed.

“A North East Free Trade Zone bid will give us the opportunity to build on our industrial and logistics assets, support our supply chains and clusters and demonstrate our range of digital and innovation capabilities. The government is committed to levelling up the UK economy with a focus on strengthening the economies of key industrial heartlands, such as the North East. This proposal will shore up some of our most disadvantaged communities. The region is working together to seize this opportunity to show why we are deserving of Freeport status and how it will strengthen our position on the national and international stage.”

Register for the North East Economic Growth & Development Conference here: https://www.built-environment-networking.com/event/north-east-development-conference-3/

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