London Gatwick CEO Stewart Wingate spoke about the airport's Northern Runway plans at the third annual Gatwick Economic Summit.
He explained the benefits of the plans and was hopeful the Secretary of State will give the go ahead at the end of February 2025.
He explained the benefits of the plans and was hopeful the Secretary of State will give the go ahead at the end of February 2025.
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00:00In terms of the future, I think it would be remiss of me not to talk about the work of the Northern Runway project.
00:06I think many people in the room would have been following this closely.
00:10It's a project which we've been working on for about seven years now
00:14and we're getting very close to finding out what the government decision is.
00:19Tim Norwood, who I think is known to many people in the room, has been leading this work
00:24and it's very important for the airport.
00:26I think as Sasha showed earlier, by the late 2030s there's no reason why the airport shouldn't grow to 75 million passengers
00:35should this £2.2 billion project, which would be fully privately funded, be given the go-ahead in the new year.
00:43If it is given the go-ahead, which we very much hope it will be,
00:4614,000 additional jobs across the region will be created,
00:51adding a further £1 billion to the regional economy when the runways have been running.
00:56So, from our perspective, this is an incredibly important project.
00:59We've worked really hard, so we're hoping early in the new year
01:03that finally, after seven years of work, we will have permission to take this project forward to the benefit of the regional economy.
01:11So we've had an examination this year, a six-month examination,
01:16where the plans that we've put forward have been thoroughly scrutinised by a panel of five planning inspectors.
01:22That examination finished at the end of August.
01:25The planning inspectors then had three months to draft their report.
01:30So in the middle of next week, at the end of November, the planning inspectors will put that report forward to government.
01:36They'll inform all parties that that's happened, but will not see the report at that stage.
01:41And then it's really over to the Secretary of State for Transport.
01:44She will then have three months to decide.
01:46So we're expecting very early in the new year, before the end of February,
01:50to hear that we've been successful in our quest to bring into routine use our Northern Runway.
01:56Extra 14,000 jobs and an additional £1 billion on GPA.
02:01If the Northern Runway does get passed, when do you think those numbers will be realised?
02:08Morning, Paul. Nice to see you.
02:11When we look at the Northern Runway, we'll get the decision, hopefully in February of next year.
02:17We're thinking February 27th, or before.
02:20And then what we'll do is start to complete all of the detailed design works, and then move into the construction phases.
02:28I think at the earliest, we start to see the beneficial use of the Northern Runway around about the turn of this decade.
02:37So let's say maybe the early 2030s, just given where we are now with time.
02:43But the runway itself actually fills up, once it's open, relatively quickly.
02:48So not only are we developing the runway, but we also have to develop the surface access, road network, and the terminal facilities.
02:56We're going to be quite busy doing all of that, Paul.
02:59And in pretty short order, you'll start to see that £1 billion of economic value-add flow, probably around about the mid-2030s.
03:08But we expect it to fill up quickly. There's a lot of pent-up demand.