Tax-busting freeport zones in Plymouth are heading for expansion after a quarter of a million pound grant from the government to accelerate planning.

The £255,000 of funding will be invested in kickstarting the growth of Langage, Sherford and Turnchapel.

The Plymouth and South Devon Freeport, set up in 2022,  was granted £25 million of seed funding in 2024 to address infrastructure gaps and create the right conditions to encourage private sector investment.

The area is covered by three local authorities – Plymouth, South Hams District Council and Devon County Council.

With the focus on marine, defence and space industries, the freeport has attracted more than £70 million of investment since it was set up.

Freeports receive a variety of tax breaks, customs and business rate reliefs to encourage economic activity and create jobs.

Companies currently benefiting from the Freeport are Babcock International, Princess Yachts, Carlton Power, who are developing a green hydrogen plant, marine autonomy innovators M Subs Ltd, JET engineering System Solutions, who are working on maritime 5G connectivity and Supercat, which has partnered with Babcock for defence vehicle manufacturing.

The latest completion has been four new high-quality business units at Beaumont Way, Langage South, owned and funded by Plymouth City Council, expected to support around 138 full-time jobs.

Language is the largest of the freeport sites at 48 hectares. Devonport’s South Yard is also a freeport site but not included in the expansion project.

Turnchapel’s four hectares is currently not a tax site, but a request has been made to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government  (MHCLG) to include this as part of the freeport tax site expansion proposal.

Boating hub Yacht Havens would like to accelerate their preliminary discussions around the further development of that site, say council documents.

The existing Turnchapel employment land is already full, with a waiting list of businesses.

Plymouth City Council says due to freeport status, there is high demand for more industrial and waterside space to meet the needs of the city’s defence and marine autonomy clusters, with firms looking to test, trial and deploy within Plymouth and wider the freeport area.

The funding will commission  “a rapid review to better understand the specific planning requirements for each developer and the required performance commitments that would be needed to deliver the freeport vision and secure much needed retained rates”.

Cllr Tudor Evans (Lab Ham)  said: “There is huge pent-up potential for further growth in defence and marine autonomy industries in Plymouth, and the freeport is key to helping unlock this potential.

“This government grant funding will help speed up the process for unlocking these three key sites.”

The full seed funding capital programme with match funding of £4 million from Plymouth City Council, £9 million from Devon County Council and infrastructure support from South Hams District Council, has also included innovation units and office space at South Yard in Devonport, a spine road extension to unlock plots at Langage and a pedestrian/cycle bridge across the A38 by Devon County Council which will provide residents active travel access between the Freeport’s Langage and Sherford sites.

Cattewater Harbour is running a port optimisation project to attract greener ships and boost Millbay Docks freight with West Wharf upgrades, part of ABP’s £23m investment.