Question to the Department for Transport:

To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what funding is available for (a) the port of Bristol and (b) other free ports now that the UK has left the EU.

On 17 December 2020, awards were announced regarding the £200 million Cabinet Office-led Port Infrastructure Fund (PIF). Bristol Port was allocated a Government grant of £1.75 million with which it intends to build a border control point (BCP) to allow effective import of EU goods in line with the UK’s new Border Operating Model.

Decisions on which ports shall be Freeports have not yet been taken. In November, the Government published the bidding prospectus for Freeports in England, setting out how ports can apply for Freeport status, and further policy details. The bidding period will close on 5 February 2021, with successful locations announced in the Spring following a fair, open and transparent selection process. Devolved administrations are following their own processes to a slightly later schedule.

Successful bidders to the Freeports competition will have the opportunity to access a share of £175 million of seed capital funding, as well as a small amount of revenue funding.