The progress indicates that the Green Freeport programme is entering the delivery phase, with funding now being used to prepare the site and carry out infrastructure improvements.

Grangemouth alongside Rosyth and Mid Forth (Leith and Burntisland), is the biggest approved tax site in the Freeport area. 

The Green Freeport provides tax and customs incentives to encourage investment in areas including manufacturing, port activity, low-carbon industry and future energy. Within the full area, it intends to secure up to £7.9 billion of public and private investment over the next ten years.

For now, the work in Grangemouth is focusing on getting sites ready so they can prompt that investment. 

One project has already started at South Bridge Street. Spearheaded by Falkirk Council, it used seed capital funding to strengthen access, install drainage and utilities, and get the brownfield land ready for development.

As of yet, the biggest proposed investment to date at Grangemouth is £5.5 million for land preparation at the Calachem site. This would see approximately 20 acres of brownfield land brought back into use as a serviced industrial area.

Support is being carried out to aid improvements to utilities capacity around Grangemouth and £1m is earmarked to heighten electricity capacity at the port.

Paul Kettrick, Falkirk Council’s head of investment, assets and climate, said: “This investment is about making Grangemouth ready for future growth, and enabling future businesses to relocate to the area and support the transition of the local economy.

“Grangemouth already has major strengths as Scotland’s largest port, an export hub and a long-established industrial centre. The work now focuses on improving infrastructure and addressing practical barriers that can hold projects back.”

Kettrick added: “That includes access, drainage, utilities, power capacity and brownfield land preparation. While these are not always the most visible parts of regeneration, they are essential if sites are to attract new industrial activity.

“This will take time, and the final decisions sit with businesses. The role of the Council is to make sure Grangemouth is as competitive as possible, and we hope elected members will recognise this report as an important step forward for the area when it comes before them later this month.

The report highlights infrastructure limits as an ongoing problem for Grangemouth, especially within utilities.

The report states an increase in investor interest since the Memorandum of Understanding was signed in January this year, with several enquiries presently being progressed.

Falkirk Council is the Accountable Body for the Green Freeport, which means it oversees public funding alongside governance arrangements.