The boss of a low tax and low regulation business zone in the South West has expressed confidence it will hit a target of creating 3,500 new jobs despite criticism the figure is “complete fiction”.

Plymouth and South Devon Freeport opened in 2022 and, in December 2024, it had successfully drawn down on £25m in funding.

There are a total of 12 freeports in the UK, which aim to create economic activity as goods imported in the zone are exempt from tariffs.

Richard May, the freeport’s chief executive, said he was positive the target would be met over its 25-year programme.

Manufacturers in freeports can import raw materials tariff-free, only paying tariffs on finished products leaving the site for elsewhere in the UK.

In return for the tax breaks, the government said freeports were expected to drive economic growth by boosting trade and creating jobs.

However, two years into the programme in Devon, the number of new jobs is still well below the target.

About 140 new jobs have been created as part of a contract to build Jackal 3 military vehicles in the South Yard tax site in Plymouth.

A number of new business units on other freeport sites, on the outskirts of the city at Langage and Sherford, were also expected to create a further 190 jobs.

Richard Howell, chairman of the South Hams Society, said he believed the promised jobs were “basically a complete fiction”.

“They are based entirely on hope,” he said.

“Until you’ve actually got tenants, you haven’t got jobs.”

Mr May said in response: “It’s a long game… this is a 25-year programme and, during that time, we still expect to get the 3,500 high-value technical jobs within the freeport.

“We will obviously look at that and review that over time, but it’s really the sort of regional impact, bringing on the supply chain, making sure there’s other jobs in addition to the ones to land in those tax sites that we obviously want to also achieve.”

Michael Gilbert, project director at Supacat, which is building the military vehicles in partnership with Babcock, said the freeport had made a “very positive contribution”.

Brendan Staniforth, business planning director from Babcock, said the Jackal programme was an opportunity to bring a “skills agenda to that line of work”.