Develop Croydon and Croydon Business Improvement District are backing a region-wide call from businesses urging the government to reject the Davies Commission report into airport expansion and instead back a second runway at Gatwick Airport.
Businesses from the Coast to Capital region, which extends from Croydon to Brighton, have come together to urge a rethink despite the recommendation from Sir Howard Davies that a third runway should be built at Heathrow Airport.
The organisations, representing 6,000 businesses and employing more than 100,000 people across the region, said in a joint statement: “We will continue to press for you and your Government to ultimately choose Gatwick, as we believe it to be the right choice for the country and for the region.
“We feel that the report from the Commission goes a long way to actually supporting that view as it does state that Gatwick is a credible, financeable and deliverable option, and that its review of economic benefits according to Treasury guidelines regards both Heathrow and Gatwick having comparable benefits. It is critical to bear in mind the constraints that have been placed on Heathrow, that are likely to be unattainable.”
The statement made 16 separate points as to why Gatwick should be chosen ahead of Heathrow and, as well as Develop Croydon chairman Richard Plant and Croydon BID chief executive Matthew Sims, signatories included business representatives from Battle, Bexhill, Brighton and Hove, Burgess Hill, Chichester, Coastal West Sussex, Crawley, Crowborough and District, Eastbourne, East Sussex, Gatwick, Hailsham, Hastings, Haywards Heath, Heathfield, Lewes, Newhaven, Peacehaven, Seaford, Uckfield and Worthing.