It will take at least four years to determine if the Plymouth and South Devon (PASD) Freeport has been an economic success, CEO Richard May has said.

Devon’s Freeport, one of 12 across the UK, is intended to attract much needed investment in the region by slashing red-tape and offering tax breaks to companies.

The aim is to create an estimated 3,500 jobs in the marine, defence and space sectors across three sites – Langage, South Yard, on the edge of Devonport, and in Sherford, on the outskirts of Plymouth.

Funding, including £25m worth of seed capital from the government, was recently secured, and in December work started on four purpose-built units on a 1.6 hectare plot in Langage.

Planning has also been approved for a green hydrogen production facility as well as access roads, which should be completed either by the end of the year or March 2026.

But critics say there has been no tangible sign of progress, more than two years after the freeport became operational, as no major firms have announced definite plans to build factories (the government last year extended the deadline for companies to locate to the freeport from 2026 to September 2031).

Asked how long it would take to measure the success of the freeport in commercial terms, Mr May said: “(2031) is our main milestone. We would obviously want to see a lot of activity prior to that date. You'll know the success of the project by 2029.”

The date is significant as Cllr John Birch, who is also a freeport board member, last year stated that South Hams District Council (SHDC) - a PASD partner, along with Plymouth and Devon Country councils - would review the project’s success by 2027 - two years earlier.

Mr May declined to say which companies were in discussions about locating to the freeport but said “really exciting stuff” was coming through.

“We have a number of businesses...talking to us confidentially who are not prepared to release any announcements (yet), but some of them are pretty significant in terms of what they would achieve. It's still early days.”

Creating high-skilled jobs was still a priority, he stressed. “We want to make sure that we're supporting innovation and that we are bringing on the skills of tomorrow,” he said.

He revealed that the freeport was also in talks with a number of countries about investment, but denied that any of the potential investors included US firms BlackRock or DP World.

The comments come shortly after the project was discussed at a virtual public meeting by some of the freeport’s fiercest critics.

Host Jim Funnell slammed the job creation claims as “completely unsubstantiated”. He said: “Without confirmed businesses, there are no real jobs, there is no tenancy income and no growth.”

He also criticised all three local authorities, claiming they were spending millions of tax payers’ money without proper consultation (SHDC expects to borrow £3.5m, to be repaid from the business rates of Sherford and Langage occupants).

“South Hams claims their freeport is self-financing, but that's absolute tosh. Borrowing costs are only recouped if the freeport is a success - it's a massive gamble,” he said.

In response, Cllr Birch said: “A select committee of the House of Commons crawled all over the freeport, and basically their conclusion was that they were operating to the benefit of the country. And the allegation that they are full of corrupt activity is just completely unfounded.”