WORCESTERSHIRE County Council leader Coun Simon Geraghty has pledged the authority’s support for a third runway at Heathrow in a letter to the new Transport Secretary.
Welcoming Chris Grayling to his new position, Coun Geraghty said he echoed the support of other county council leaders for the controversial scheme.
Coun Geraghty said the continued investment in Heathrow was an ‘essential decision to make’ and said Britain’s network of airports was the backbone of the aviation industry.
“This is a success story contributing £50billion a year in growth and supporting one million jobs,” he said.
“We should be building on that success and future-proofing it by delivering the recommendations made clear by the Airports Commission: Expand Heathrow, set tough environmental limits and make sure that local people are fairly compensated; Use high speed rail and a new western rail link to plug Heathrow into the rail network and make sure there is a plan to secure regular, frequent flights from our regions and nations; During construction make sure skilled jobs are created across the country, up-skilling the nation.”
Coun Geraghty said investment in Britain’s infrastructure was now even more important to support growth across the country.
“Even during construction, infrastructure development creates skilled jobs and an economic boost for improvements to local economies,” he added.
Coun Geraghty also invited Mr Grayling to the county to showcase the ‘significant’ improvements the county council was delivering on Worcestershire’s roads and rail and highlight Worcestershire was now in the top four fastest growing local economies in the country.
