London Gatwick Airport announced today (August 15) the formation of the Gatwick Growth Board (GGB) under co-chairs Baroness Tessa Jowell (far left), former Minister for the Olympics, and Steve Norris (right), former Minister for Transport.
The GGB will examine the wider economic and social impacts of Gatwick Airport’s future growth and proposed expansion plans on the local area, the South East region, and on the economy of the UK as a whole.
Reporting to Sir Roy McNulty, chairman of Gatwick Airport Ltd, the new board will have a particular emphasis on ensuring that the benefits of expanding Gatwick are properly distributed across the region and the rest of the UK, so that the areas most in need of regeneration benefit appropriately from its plans.
The GGB will also examine the implications of Gatwick’s national status in the context of both one runway and two. A natural focus of the board’s inquiry will be the impacts associated with a second runway but it will also examine the impacts of Gatwick’s place in the economy and its expansion in the context of a single runway, recognizing that a new runway will not be open until 2025.
The board’s work will extend across an initial two-year period and will deliver regular reports and studies to Gatwick. The first report is planned to commence in September 2016.
Baroness Jowell said, “London and the South East are crucial economic engines that drive growth in the rest of Britain. This is a great opportunity to build on the experience of the Olympics – commissioning the park and staging the games – to bring economic and social benefit across the UK. It is important that the continued growth of success stories like Gatwick is seen through a national lens.
“The GGB will look closely at how investment and growth here can better benefit not only the region but also the country as a whole and I am delighted to have the opportunity to help deliver a plan to make this happen.”
Norris said, “Gatwick is a very significant part of the UK’s national infrastructure and plays a crucial role in the economic prosperity of the local area, the South East, and the country as a whole.
“The investment and growth that Gatwick has brought to the UK since coming into independent ownership has been remarkable. Particularly in light of Brexit, Britain needs the certainty that Gatwick’s future growth and expansion plans bring and I look forward to helping take this forward to help maximize the real benefits that Gatwick offers for the region, and for the nation.”