A four-hour workshop on Freeports, hosted in the Roland Levinsky Building on University of Plymouth campus for people from local government, business and civil society, as part of the ESRC Festival of Social Science.

Session 1: What do we know about the UK Freeports?

Dr Peter Holmes and Guillermo Larbalestier from the Trade Policy Observatory on the trade implications of the new Freeports and Dr Catherine Barnard (Cambridge) on the evolving UK policy; Drs Holden and Harmer on the political and socio-economic context of the Plymouth/Devon Freeport (summary of their recent research) followed by a Q&A/discussion.

Session 2: Opportunities and risks for business, government and society

This session will explore and encourage participants to reflect on the opportunities, challenges and potential risks of the Freeport. Facilitated group discussions will explore different scenarios and perspectives.

What’s it about?

An important post-Brexit initiative of the Conservative government was the announcement in 2021 of eight new ‘freeports’ across England, of which Plymouth/South Devon were one. The establishment of the Freeport has proceeded rapidly. The local vision reframes the national agenda, with a focus on sustainable development in the marine economy and the defence/ space sectors, in a way that is genuinely innovative but may also be challenging.

Notwithstanding the undoubted opportunities, and the extensive planning of the local authorities to ensure broader social and environmental benefits, there are risks. The political context for Freeports is still volatile, economic displacement is still a concern and the economic crisis may put pressure on some of the social and environmental principles (while the public image of Freeports is not unproblematic).

Participants will gain:

An understanding of the evolving national policy
Analytical tools to understand the political and social dynamics in the South West
Better knowledge of their own organisation’s research and learning needs
A new perspective on Freeports and exposure to social science experts
Optional involvement in an ongoing knowledge network on Freeports

Please arrive for light refreshments from 13:15, ready for a 13:30 start.

Supercharging the South West?