Freeport East brings in £250m of private funds

Steve Beel, the chief executive of Freeport East, said he wants to sell the area "internationally"

The low tax and low regulation business zone that is Freeport East says it has attracted £250m of private investment since it started operating two years ago.

Steve Beel, the chief executive of Freeport East, also said it had attracted nearly 2,000 jobs.

The area covers the ports of Felixstowe in Suffolk and Harwich across the water in Essex, as well as the Gateway 14 business park near Stowmarket.

"It's partly about selling our region internationally in a way that would be otherwise quite difficult to do," said Mr Beel.

Freeport East is made up of the low tax sites of Harwich, Felixstowe and Gateway 14 near Stowmarket

Freeport areas have relaxed customs and planning regulations, plus tax incentives for companies which base themselves there.

Freeport East was started with £25m government funding to prepare the three sites and attract investors. It aims to create 13,500 jobs.

The freeport model in the longer term means business rates that are collected from the companies based there will be reinvested into local initiatives.

Mr Beel said this included investing in a skills programme at local colleges, and money from Gateway 14 was being "deployed back" into Stowmarket town centre to "improve the environment for local businesses".

Yvonne Higgins of Bauder Ltd said the company looked at other options before settling on Gateway 14

Bauder Ltd has been in Ipswich for 45 years and employs 140 people there, but has outgrown its offices, and has invested £10m in a new distribution centre at Gateway 14.

The company supplies roofing materials and systems.

Yvonne Higgins, Bauder Lld's managing director, said: "We had other options available to us and we shortlisted two or three developments in the area and by far, with the benefits Freeport gives us with the tax saving - the rates for us - this was the place to be."

Retailer The Range has already opened its distribution centre at Gateway 14 and aims to employ up to 1,600 staff there.

Ihsan Tolga Akar of Assan Panel Companies wants the firm to be operational at Gateway 14 by the autumn

Turkish building materials manufacturer Assan Panel aims to open a European base at Gateway 14 in the autumn.

This will be a £45m investment and create 100 "high-skilled" jobs, the company says.

Ihsan Tolga Akar, managing director at Assan Panel Companies, said the site near Stowmarket was a "prime location".

The ports at Felixstowe (pictured) and Harwich have not yet seen private business investment similar to that of Gateway 14

There is still room for more developments at Gateway 14 and there are approved plans for an £18m skills and innovation centre.

This would be funded by Mid Suffolk District Council which owns the land.

Harwich and Felixstowe have not yet seen the same investment success as Gateway 14 and Mr Beel said his team was working on removing "the barriers" at Felixstowe to make it more appealing.

He also said it was "key" that government improved the the Haughley and Ely railway junctions to support the development at Freeport East.

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