REGIONAL ASSEMBLY REJECTS AIRPORT DEVELOPMENT AT HEATHROW AND CLIFFE

THE SOUTH EAST ENGLAND REGIONAL ASSEMBLY has rejected further expansion of runway capacity at Heathrow and declared its opposition to the proposals at Cliffe in Kent.

The Assembly - the South East's Regional Planning Body - met at Gatwick to agree the Assembly's formal response to the Government's consultation on the future development of air transport in the South East, the South East and East of England Regional Air Services Study (SERAS).

The agreed recommendations to Government include:

• We should not just 'predict and provide': measures to manage the demand for national and international air travel should be part of the way forward;
• There is scope for airports in other regions to meet more of the demand for air travel directly from and to their region instead of having to travel first through the South East system;
• Further expansion of runway capacity at Heathrow is inconsistent in social, environmental and economic terms with regional policy and would have a detrimental impact on the area around Heathrow's surface transport capacity.
• Of the other options for expansion offered in the SERAS report, a focus at Stansted is preferred.
• Airport development at Cliffe is rejected; the Cliffe option has substantial environmental and transport impacts and is an inflexible 4-runway scheme, and because there are doubts about the scale of capacity needed.
• Further expansion at Stansted needs to be accompanied by major publicly-funded improvements to surface access so as to particularly improve east-west connections and links with the Thames Gateway and the London area;
• The potential contribution by Gatwick as a single-runway airport should be fully explored.

Paul Bevan, Chief Executive of the South East England Regional Assembly said: "The Assembly recognises the competitive advantages that the London airports system brings to our region. We want to see our airports developed in a way that minimises the environmental costs while reaping these economic and social benefits. We believe there is real scope for airport development to support the success of other regions as well as the South East. And while Heathrow and Gatwick continue to grow their business within current capacity limits, we believe Stansted offers the best option for investment to provide for further capacity for London."

Contact

Lesley van Dijk, PR Executive - 01483 555223

Alex Butlin, PR Executive - 01483 555221

Notes to editors:

1. The Regional Assembly is the “voluntary regional chamber” for the South East. It was established in January 1999 to give a representative voice to the South East region which covers Berkshire, Buckinghamshire, East and West Sussex, Hampshire, Isle of Wight, Kent, Oxfordshire, and Surrey.
2. The Assembly is made up of 111 members including elected councillors nominated by the region’s local authorities and 37 representatives from other sectors of the community (including business, trades unions, education, housing, health, sports, culture, tourism, faith groups, environmental, community and voluntary organisations).
3. The Assembly has three areas of core business:
1. It is the representative voice of the South East, engaging and representing its member organisations and, through them, the wider public.
2. The Assembly has a specific role under the Regional Development Agencies' Act 1998 to ensure the accountability of the South East England Development Agency (SEEDA) to the region.
3. The Assembly has been the Regional Planning Body for the South East since April 2001. It has responsibility for proposing strategic planning and transport policies to Government.

Last updated: 21 August 2007