rss

rss

Forest City is a proposed development in Suffolk that would house one million people. It has all the hallmarks of a charter city project. Read about the background here. But the story won’t end with one new city.

The national architecture of zone fever summed up with Forest City

For years, warnings have been issued about a disturbing progression:

Freeports → SEZs → Charter Cities.

Forest City proves this wasn’t speculation—it was prediction. What makes this particularly urgent is not just Forest City itself, but what it represents: a replicable template being rolled out across Britain’s deregulated archipelago.

The June 2025 turning point: when all zones merged

The Labour government’s Industrial Strategy Zones Action Plan (June 2025) wasn’t administrative reorganisation—it was the unification of Britain’s deregulated infrastructure into one coherent system.

The merger combined:

12 Freeports (customs / tax exemptions).
74 SEZs / Investment Zones (planning / regulatory exemptions).
AI Growth Zones (data / digital deregulation).
Innovation Zones (R&D exemptions).
Enterprise Zones (business rate relief).

This means multiple deregulation frameworks can now be stacked in the same geographic area, creating zones where normal UK law barely applies.

Before the merger, these were fragmented systems making patterns harder to identify. Now they’re a unified national infrastructure ready for the next phase: permanent corporate governance.

Zone stacking: the new geography of power

The merger enables what can only be called zone stacking – layering multiple exemptions in the same territory:

Investment Zone corridor (planning exemptions)

Freeport designation (tax exemptions)
AI Growth Zone (data deregulation)
Charter City proposal (appointed governance)

= Corporate sovereignty zone

This is what Forest City represents in Suffolk. And this model is replicable across Britain wherever
Investment Zone corridors already exist.

The timeline acceleration

Consider how quickly this infrastructure was built:

2016: Brexit vote removes EU state aid constraints.
2021: first 12 Freeports announced.
2023: Investment Zones expansion to 74 SEZs.
2025 January: AI Growth Zones launched.
2025 June: all zones merged into Industrial Strategy framework.
2025 October: Forest City announced.

Nine years from Brexit to charter city proposal.

Each stage normalised the next:

Brexit removed legal constraints (EU state aid rules).
Freeports normalised tax exemptions.
SEZs normalised planning exemptions.
AI Zones normalised digital deregulation.
Investment Zones normalised public subsidies to private developers.
Forest City combines all of above into permanent governance structure.

Why multiple Charter Cities are inevitable

If Forest City succeeds, the economic and political incentives ensure replication:

For Investors:

Land uplift worth billions within SEZ zones.
25-year tax exemption licenses.
Planning immunity.
Appointed governance protecting investments.

For Politicians:

“Growth” credentials without democratic accountability.
Private developers take blame for displacement.
Cross-party consensus shields from electoral consequences.
Think tanks provide intellectual cover.

For Developers:

The Teesside precedent: £25m seed capital extracted £560m (22.5x return).
Forest City model: £200m investment gets 80 acres worth tens of millions.
Generational wealth from one project.

Other consortiums are watching. If Albion City Development Corporation gets rich from Forest City, expect copycats across Britain.

Geographic vulnerabilities: where next?

Based on existing Investment Zone corridors, these areas face highest risk for charter city proposals:

East Midlands Freeport.

Covers East Midlands Airport, Ratcliffe-on-Soar, major logistics hubs.
Could expand into Nottinghamshire / Leicestershire farmland.
Marketing angle: “Midlands Engine City”.

Humber Freeport.

Covers ports of Goole, Hull, Immingham.
Proximity to Yorkshire coast and countryside.
Marketing angle: “Northern Powerhouse City”.

Teesside Freeport.

Already extracted £560m from taxpayers (22.5x the seed capital).
Covers industrial sites with expansion potential.
Marketing angle: “Levelling Up City”.

South Wales Industrial Clusters.

Cardiff / Newport Investment Zone along M4 corridor.
Could expand into Valleys communities.
Marketing angle: “Green Valleys Sustainable City”.

Scottish Central Belt.

Glasgow / Edinburgh Investment Zone.
Agricultural land between major cities.
Marketing angle: “Scotland Innovation City”.

The pattern is consistent: find an Investment Zone corridor, propose a charter city with progressive branding, seek SEZ powers, install appointed governance, override local democracy.

The 200+ AI Growth Zone bids: scale of ambition

Over 200 local authorities, universities, and private consortiums have bid to become AI Growth Zones. This reveals:

Enormous appetite across UK for deregulated status.
Local councils competing for government funding by offering deregulation.
Race to the bottom on regulation is structural, not accidental.
Digital layer is being built nationally, not regionally.

When AI Growth Zones are combined with Investment Zones, Freeports, and charter city governance, you get permanent corporate sovereignty zones.

The Dartmoor Warning: Suffolk’s Forest City will be next

That Dartmoor National Park sits inside a 75km Investment Zone radius around Plymouth & South Devon Freeport should terrify anyone who believes protected landscapes are safe.

If a National Park can be enclosed in an SEZ, nowhere is safe.

This proves the zone infrastructure isn’t limited to urban industrial sites—it can encompass:

National Parks.
Sites of Special Scientific Interest (SSSIs).
Areas of Outstanding Natural Beauty (AONBs).
Agricultural land.
Rural villages.
Historic sites.

The “empty Britain” map used in Forest City and CapX promotional materials dismisses all of this as vacant space ready for development.

BlackRock’s “Nature Assets”: the final frontier

The financialisation of nature through “Natural Capital” schemes represents the ultimate enclosure of the commons.

BlackRock, Blackstone and UBS are building portfolios that price:

Carbon sequestration.
Biodiversity credits.
Water services.
Pollination services.
Soil health.

Aligned with Treasury’s Natural Capital framework and DEFRA’s “nature markets”, this transforms:

National Parks → Financial assets.
Rivers → Tradeable instruments.
Forests → Investment portfolios.
Habitats → Market commodities.

Combined with SEZ infrastructure, this enables corporate ownership not just of development zones but of natural systems themselves.

Bipartisan collusion: the consensus that betrays

Perhaps most alarming is that both major parties support this transformation:

Conservatives:

Launched Freeports.
Expanded SEZs.
Initiated Investment Zones.
Promoted deregulation agenda.

Labour:

Maintained all 12 Freeports.
Maintained all 74 SEZs.
Merged zones into unified system.
Launched AI Growth Zones.
Supports Forest City through figures like Patricia Hewitt.

When both parties agree, the transformation becomes immune to electoral politics. No opposition party campaigns against it. Media treats it as “settled policy”. Local resistance is dismissed as NIMBYism.

The ratchet only turns one way.

What this means: the restructuring of British sovereignty

Forest City is not an isolated housing project. It’s the proof-of-concept for transforming Britain from:

A unified democratic nation → an archipelago of corporate zones.

Where:

Geographic areas operate under separate rules.
Democratic accountability is optional.
Appointed trustees override elected councils.
Private investors have governance rights.
Tax obligations are negotiable.
Planning protections don’t apply.
National sovereignty fragments into zone sovereignty.

This is neoliberal federalism: the nation-state carved into competing corporate jurisdictions, exactly as advocated by anarcho-capitalist architects like Patrik Schumacher.

The Charter City template is ready for rollout

If Forest City succeeds in Suffolk, expect proposals within 2-3 years for:

“Tech City North” in the Manchester Investment Zone corridor
“Green City Wales” in the Cardiff / Newport corridor
“Innovation City Scotland” in the Central Belt
“Atlantic Gateway” in the Liverpool / Merseyside Freeport zone
“Thames Estuary City” in the Kent Investment Zone
Each will use the identical playbook:
Progressive housing rhetoric.
Libertarian governance structure.
Cross-party political backing.
Think tank intellectual cover.
Appointed trustees with binding charters.
SEZ tax / planning exemptions.
Private land gifts to founders.
Secretary of State override of local vetoes.

The infrastructure is built. The template is tested. The incentives ensure replication.

What citizens must do against Forest City: building democratic resistance

1. Create a Charter City Watch Network

Monitor across Britain:

Planning applications in Investment Zone corridors.
Development corporation proposals.
Large land acquisitions near SEZ sites.
Think tank reports calling for “new cities”.
Cross-party “growth coalitions” forming.
Local authority bids for zone status.

Because early warning systems save communities.

2. Connect Resistance Movements

Suffolk groups fighting Forest City must link with:

Dartmoor communities resisting SEZ encroachment.
Teesside communities tracking freeport finances.
Welsh communities facing Investment Zone expansion.
Scottish groups opposing development corporations.
Every community in an Investment Zone corridor.

Isolated resistance fails. Networked resistance wins.

3. Force MPs to Answer

Make every Member of Parliament publicly answer:

“Do you support charter cities in Britain?”
“Do you support appointed trustees overriding elected councils?”
“Do you support privatizing democratic governance?”

Most won’t understand the question. Good. Make them learn. Force public positions before the next proposal appears.

4. Build the Archive

Document systematically:

Every zone expansion.
Every merger of zone types.
Every charter city proposal.
Every think tank blueprint.
Every politician supporting zones.
Every corporate beneficiary.

This archive becomes the reference when the next Forest City is announced.

5. International Solidarity

Connect with communities who’ve fought charter cities:

Honduran groups who repealed ZEDEs.
Garifuna communities displaced by Próspera.
Saudi activists opposing NEOM.
Madagascar civil society who survived charter city coup.

They’ve fought this model and won. Their experience is our blueprint.

The stakes: democracy or corporate sovereignty

The choice Britain faces is stark:

Accept the zone archipelago and watch democratic governance fragment into corporate jurisdictions where:

Residents don’t control their communities.
Villages can be overridden by ministerial decree.
Investors receive permanent governance rights.
Public land becomes private profit.
National parks become financial assets.
Planning is replaced by appointed corporations.

Reject the template and insist that:
Democracy is non-negotiable.
Communities have veto power.
Governance must be elected, not appointed.
Public land serves public interest.
Protected landscapes stay protected.

Transparency precedes backing, not follows it.

The story that must be told – and it starts with Suffolk’s Forest City

For years, warnings were issued about the stepping stones: Freeports → SEZs → Charter Cities.

Forest City proves the progression was accurate.

The infrastructure is complete:

Legal (Brexit removed EU constraints).
Economic (Freeports normalized tax exemptions).
Regulatory (SEZs normalized planning exemptions).
Digital (AI Zones normalized data deregulation).
Financial (Investment Zones normalized public subsidies).
Governance (Forest City tests appointed corporate control).

The template is ready. The incentives ensure replication. The political consensus exists.

The only question is whether British citizens will recognize what’s happening before it becomes irreversible.

Suffolk’s fight against Forest City is Britain’s fight against the zone archipelago.

If Forest City succeeds, charter cities spread.

If Suffolk resists successfully, the template is rejected.

This is the fight for British democracy itself.

The architects of Zone Fever—from anarcho-capitalist designers to libertarian think tanks to complicit politicians—want this transformation to happen quietly, incrementally, in administrative language that obscures the sovereignty transfer.

Our job is to make it visible. To name it clearly. To resist it collectively.

Forest City is not a housing solution.

It is a governance revolution.

And the British public deserves to know what they’re about to lose.

Keep watching. Keep documenting. Keep connecting. Keep resisting.

British democracy isn’t a failed experiment to be replaced with corporate zones—it’s a right worth defending.

The fight begins in Suffolk. But it’s a fight for all of Britain.

Featured image via Forest City

By David Powell

From Canary via This RSS Feed.

The corrupt charter city blueprint and why Suffolk’s Forest City is just the start