Gatwick expansion back on the agenda
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Gatwick Airport’s newly-established Gatwick Growth Board (GGB) under Co-Chairs Tessa Jowell and Steve Norris has commissioned an independent assessment from consultants Oxford Economics into the positive economic impact created by the airport at a local, regional, and national level.
To provide a firm evidence base for its work over the coming year, this first study by the GGB will provide new and updated estimates of the value added and jobs created by Gatwick’s operations and supporting activity to map out where the benefits arise.
Other issues which the GGB will explore include:
- Training and employment: how can Gatwick best provide opportunities for current and future generations of staff to develop their full potential, and to attract recruits from across the region
- Procurement: how can Gatwick best work with the construction sector to enable innovative firms of all sizes right across the UK to deliver its £1.2 billion capital programme. and
- Balanced growth across the UK: how does Gatwick’s growth fit within a wider network of airports across the UK, connecting all regions to the world.
As former Minister for the Olympics and for London, and former Minister for Transport respectively, Baroness Jowell and Steve Norris bring great experience, expertise, and authority in the field of government, infrastructure, and economic and social analysis.
The study will report in November 2016.
Baroness Jowell said: “Gatwick’s continued growth brings great opportunities for businesses in the region and nationally, and for employment and training at and around the airport but it also brings responsibilities on the airport to manage its impact on neighbours sensitively.
“We will assist Gatwick’s management team to address the wider issues associated with Gatwick’s recent and future growth. The airport is now recognised as one of the most important infrastructure assets in the country and its growth carries implications for the country as a whole, as well as for its local region.”
Gatwick’s ambitious growth strategy is backed by a £1.2. billion capital investment programme over the next five years to meet the needs of airlines and passengers for more terminal capacity and airfield infrastructure – new stands and taxi-ways, for example – to enable Gatwick to make best use of its current runway.
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