Land acquisition set to create jobs at Freeport tax site

South Hams District Council is set to acquire a parcel of land in Sherford to facilitate the development of a Freeport tax site.

The proposed logistics facility, likely to be developed by a local company, holds the potential to generate hundreds of jobs.

The Sherford Consortium, currently owning the land, has identified it as one of three tax sites in the Plymouth and South Devon Freeport.

To initiate enabling works, the council is seeking to acquire 7.9 hectares of land, with Plymouth City Council allocating £3.5m of Freeport Seed Capital Funding for the acquisition through its processes.

Plymouth City Council leader Tudor Evans said: “This decision will help speed up the ground and preparation work needed on this allocated Freeport site to get it ready for development. In a nutshell, this means more jobs will be available sooner.”

South Hams District Council’s executive member for economic development, commercial strategy and governance, John Birch, said: “This land acquisition will enable us to unlock the Freeport’s Sherford site by at least a year, if not more, than what had originally been modelled within the Freeport’s Full Business Case. This means we can support the Freeport’s objectives of more jobs and regeneration activity for the South Hams quicker than planned.”