BCC: Heathrow expansion would boost business
Article Date: Jul 15 2008Expanding Heathrow airport will help to boost British business in the face of a 'seriously tough' economic market, the British Chambers of Commerce (BCC) claims.
According to the director general of the BCC David Frost, preventing the airport's expansion could cause unnecessary problems for UK business.
He adds that concentrating too heavily on predicted environmental concerns could hold back the economy and suggests that the majority of Britons would like to see the expansion if the alternative was a reduction in the UK's competitiveness.
'Expansion does not have to come at a cost to the environment if we think imaginatively,' he says, continuing that the BCC is pushing the government for improved public transport links.
Frost's comments come following business secretary John Hutton's statement that Heathrow airport needs a third runway.
A report published last week found that business travellers contribute over £4 billion to the UK economy each year.
I suggest the director general tries living under the flight path for a week and then say with all conscience that this is the case. Far better AND a bigger boost to business would be a new airport in the Thames Estuary with the associated new rail links and services, while keeping Heathrow as a smaller more niche player.
Report this comment »