The UK can afford no more delays on airport expansion, the boss of Gatwick Airport has said
The boss of Gatwick Airport is to renew calls for a new runway, arguing it is the only option suitable for expansion.
Speaking at the National Infrastructure Forum, Gatwick chief executive Stewart Wingate will today say that Britain can no longer afford delays to airport expansion.
Wingate will also argue that only Gatwick can balance the need for economic growth with environmental concerns. “In these uncertain times that means Gatwick can give the country certainty of delivery. And Britain cannot afford yet more delay,” he will say.
“We have pledged we can deliver by 2025, at a cost that everyone can afford, without public subsidy and at a fraction of the environmental impact of Heathrow. None of that has changed.”
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It comes almost exactly a year after the Davies Commission recommended a new runway at Heathrow. Last July Sir Howard Davies said that proposals for a new runway at Heathrow Airport, if combined with measures to address environmental and community impacts, offered the greatest benefits.
Yesterday, 50 business leaders joined with the Let Britain Fly campaign to warn that the UK's vote to leave the EU made the need for a decision more urgent and called for an improvement on “glacial” progress.
Last year, the government delayed a decision until this Summer to explore environmental issues.
A Downing Street spokesperson yesterday said: “The timetable for that hasn’t changed.”