Colin Leighfield, Chair of the Black Country Chamber of Commerce Transport Group, recently responded to an editorial in New Civil Engineer magazine. In his response, Colin puts across the Chamber’s position on Heathrow very well, which is reproduced verbatim below.
Greg Pitcher’s transport feature ‘Heathrow Offers UK-wide Work’ (published on 16th July) continues the London-centric razz-a-ma-tazz that has surrounded the third runway proposal with the pledges about the the volume of work that will be dished out to UK suppliers.
All very good and it is what we should expect. However, how have we got to this? It is based on the conclusions of the Davies Commission report, which recommends Heathrow extension based on an assessment of pressure on a South-Eastern dominated economy and the wish of major airlines such as BA and Virgin to centralise their operations to suit themselves at the inconvenience of everyone else. The CBI has predictably thumped the Heathrow tub based on the claim that Heathrow is what business wants, and upon the announcement of the Heathrow recommendation the Director General of British Chambers, John Longworth, issued a press release welcoming the news and saying that it is what Chamber members wanted. However, two of the largest Chambers of Commerce, Greater Birmingham and Black Country, have said that they do not support the Heathrow decision, immediately putting a dent in Mr. Longworth’s claim. Another case of a clearly stated policy preference which does not have the whole-hearted support of significant and important members of those who are being spoken for. These two regions together represent the most important centre of manufacturing in the UK and are increasingly significant.
Their position is that the most important development in airport strategy must be based on the regional airports, not Heathrow. In fact, if there has to be an extra runway in the South East, they would prefer it to be at Gatwick, because that would be compatible with a regional growth strategy and not have the effect of delaying airport growth elsewhere by years that will ensue from this continuing mistaken concentration on Heathrow. The whole idea of a national hub airport is increasingly irrelevant with the increasing focus of airlines on “hub-buster” airliner designs such as Boeing 787 Dreamliner and Airbus A350, which offer the opportunity to make money on long-range routes with half the number of passengers carried by 747s and A380s. They operate perfectly well from other airports such as Birmingham with its’ new longer runway and Manchester. If Germany can offer international capabilities from a number of regional airports and doesn’t need a central hub, why do we need one? Certainly I do not know any colleagues in my region who prefer to drive to Heathrow if they can fly from Birmingham, which is certainly my position.
Underlying all of this is the continuing lack of “joined-up thinking” in government national transport strategy. In 2014, George Osborne described his passionate support for HS2 based on the need to start moving the weight of the economy from the South East to further North. If the government is prepared to commit itself to such massive expenditure over decades to re-engineer the economy this way, then why is the same thinking not being applied to policy on airport expansion? A co-ordinated strategy could start to achieve the outcome that Mr. Osbourne says he is looking for far more effectively than this current disjointed approach. We don’t want to see HS2 being used to move air travellers from the Midlands to London, let us see them coming the other way. Continuing growth in the South East of England is a massively inefficient basis for energising a growing economy and truly realising national potential. To maximise national efficiency and use our resources most effectively, we need to see a proper re-distribution of business away from the London region and transport strategy is the essential key to doing it. Initiatives such as Northern Powerhouse and similar developing strategies for the West Midlands recognise this, but without an underlying coherent national strategy their effectiveness will be reduced. Airports are at least as important as rail strategy in this, if not more so. Let us see it properly recognised and future government policy develop accordingly. It should be NO to Heathrow.
Black Country Chamber 