Question to the Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities:

To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, whether his Department assessed the contract between PD Ports and Wentworth Clean Power for the Teesport Renewable Energy Centre as part of their official assessment of the Tees Freeport bid; and how that contract was scored under Sections 5.5 and 5.6 of the Freeport bidding prospectus published by the Treasury.

My Department led the fair, open and transparent selection process to determine the successful Freeport locations in England, with assessment informed by relevant experts across government to ensure objective and robust assessment.

All bids received were initially assessed on their answers to the Essential Information set out in Section 5.5 of the Freeports bidding prospectus. Those that passed this stage had their responses to the questions set out in Section 5.6 of the Freeports Bidding Prospectus assessed against the listed criteria. This involved assessing the proposal’s ability to deliver against the policy objectives; the deliverability of the proposal effectively at pace; and the level of private sector involvement in the proposal.

Further information on the process and rationale for the selection of the successful Freeport locations in England, and how Teesside’s Freeport proposal scored against each of the assessment criteria, is available here: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/freeports-bidding-prospectus/english-freeports-selection-decision-making-note.