The Port of Dover has welcomed the revised criteria for the sale of trust ports announced by the Government yesterday. The Board of the Port believes that the Government's criteria reflect the Port's ambition to combine community participation in the port with the ability to access private capital so that the port can fund its long-term development. The Board is confident that its innovative and ground-breaking privatisation scheme, which it proposed in 2010, will be seen to meet the Government's criteria in all respects. The Port authority also sees the revised criteria as a clear reflection of Government's desire for similar community-focused schemes to be brought forward by other trust ports.
Responding to the announcement, Port of Dover Chairman Roger Mountford said: "The Government has recognised that benefits from privatisation should flow both to local communities and to the national economy. Our scheme will deliver community participation, investment and regeneration, and the ability to develop and expand port infrastructure, while maintaining the resilience of fundamental parts of our national infrastructure."
With an emphasis on enduring community participation, which has remained an integral part of the Port's scheme through its Port of Dover Community Trust proposal, the Port considers the criteria to provide the missing piece of the jigsaw which now fully aligns Dover's vision for the future and Government policy on trust ports.
Bob Goldfield, Chief Executive of the Port of Dover added: "The Government is giving a clear message that privatisation is a way of enabling national assets to enhance the resilience and efficiency of the UK's transport network while at the same time providing a positive, lasting and fundamental change to the way such ports can contribute to and support their communities."
The Port now hopes that this confirmation will provide the green light for Government to approve its privatisation scheme and for the community to start enjoying the benefits.
The Port has been invited to indicate formally whether its proposal should be considered against the revised criteria and will respond to the Department for Transport in due course.
