Humber Freeport

Event Information

The announcement in March that the Humber is among eight areas of England that will have a new Freeport is of major significance for Greater Lincolnshire.

This new status is fundamental to Greater Lincolnshire's future prosperity; turbo charging the economy, increasing investment by £3.5bn and supporting 7,000 new jobs.

The Humber currently accounts for 23% of all goods travelling through English ports, adding £7.6 billion GDA to the UK, and supports around 35,000 regional jobs. The Humber estuary is home to one the largest and busiest ports complexes in the UK, and is the sensible location for a freeport based on the area’s global strengths of advanced manufacturing and clean growth.

Alongside access to Humberside Airport, the A1, the East Coast Main Line and food clusters in the south, Greater Lincolnshire’s ports and logistics sector also accounts for over 25% of UK rail freight, connecting to the major energy and manufacturing providers in the North and offering significant opportunities as the UK gateway to the Midlands Engine and Northern Powerhouse.  

The successful Humber Freeport bid was submitted by a formal coalition led by ABP with support from the four Humber local authorities of East Riding of Yorkshire, Hull, North and North East Lincolnshire, alongside both LEPs and partnering businesses across both banks of the estuary.

This webinar will give an introduction to freeports, what it means for Greater Lincolnshire, and highlight the opportunities it will create for our region. 

Speakers

Pat Doody

Chair, Greater Lincolnshire Local Enterprise Partnership

Pat has worked in Greater Lincolnshire for over 30 years, most recently as Area Director for NatWest Commercial Banking, a role where he oversaw a team focussing on many of those sectors key to the local economy i.e. manufacturing and technology, visitor economy, healthcare, agriculture and logistics. He retired from that role in early 2020 and now undertakes Non Executive roles. He maintains a close interest in Education, having been Vice Chair of the Lincoln College Group and is an advisory board member of The University of Lincoln International Business School as well as member of the local Employment and Skills Board. 

David Gwynne

Bid Director, Humber Freeports

David Gwynne is the Bid Director for Humber Freeports.  David has over 20 years’ experience in infrastructure finance and regulated utilities with a particular focus on the port sector.  Previous roles include Head of M&A at Associated British Ports and within Barclays’ investment banking Power, Utilities and Infrastructure sector team.

Sarah Spink

Strategic Partnerships Lead, Midlands Connect

Sarah has been working with Midlands Connect since early 2016, working to develop the Sub-national Transport Body into a single voice for the region.  She spends her time working with the partners to ensure an integrated approach to their work.

Midlands Connect has pushed forward development work and grown its presence nationally. By researching, developing and recommending schemes to central Government the region can look forward to a continued programme of investment.

Prior to joining Midlands Connect Sarah spent 20 years working as a transport planner and economist, developing business cases and proposals for projects all over the world; this includes working on business continuity and behavioural change for London2012, integrating transport services with the Dubai Metro and assessing bids for railways in South Africa. 

Clive Tritton

Strategic Regeneration Adviser, North East Lincolnshire Council

Clive is a Strategic Regeneration Adviser to North East Lincolnshire Council – supporting delivery of a wide range of projects including the Town Deal, Towns Fund, Future High Street Fund, South Humber Industrial Investment Programme(SHIIP) and Freeport as well as leading the authority’s input to regional collaboration through the Humber Leadership Board and Greater Lincolnshire Local Enterprise Partnership. Until January of this year, Clive was Interim Director for Economy, Growth and the Environment at the Council. He has been asked to stay on to support delivery across this range of programmes now that the new senior management structure has been finalised. 

Prior to joining NELC, the majority of Clive’s career had been spent at Renaisi, a London based regeneration agency, including seven years as Chief Executive. He was also an Economic Growth Adviser for the Local Government Association.

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