This is the speech made by Antony at the full meeting of the Norwich City Council in support of jobs and investment at Norwich Airport.
This motion could not come at a better time given the economic circumstances that the City and the country finds itself in. With increasing uncertainty about the future, Norwich City Council should put itself front and centre in the debate about the infrastructure of the City, jobs, transport and development.
This council has spent much time, at least since I was elected, on a number of issues which some members have considered to be trivial or peripheral to city life. I trust that all members will agree that the issue of Norwich Airport represents another of the great challenges that will fall to our generation of politicians and we ought not to hide from having a clear and open viewpoint. I trust that the motion before you tonight, deliberately vague in specifics but very clear in our open and unashamed support for one of the great businesses of our City, will win widespread support. This motion lays down a marker – to the managements, the workers and the passengers – of Norwich Airport that we share the current problems they are having and wish to do all we can to support and help develop a better regional airport hub.
So, in the minutes that I have tonight I want to set out the challenges facing Norwich Airport now and what importance the airport could yet have for the City in the future.
Air travel is declining for the first time in almost 20 years. Airline failures, harder economic times and a dismal airport experience have caused a sharp downturn in the number of travellers boarding planes at nearly all British airports. Rising food, fuel and council tax bills have caused householders to cut back on luxuries, including travel.
Holiday experts also believe that long queues and extenstive security checks at airports have removed any pleasure from flying. The collapse of XL Leisure, the UK’s third largest holiday company, on 12 September – which left 85,000 holidaymakers stranded abroad – created embarrassing publicity for the industry and left customers worried about what would happen if their airline went bust.
Traffic at the leading UK airports fell by 4.5 per cent last month from 20.8 million to 19.9 million, with almost one million fewer fliers in the skies. The biggest airports recorded large falls in traffic: Heathrow was down 3.6 per cent and Gatwick 6.8 per cent; Manchester tumbled 6.7 per cent. Yet, worringly at the same time passenger numbers at Norwich airport fell by 11%; even more of a worrying sign when you consider that the biggest threat to Norwich Airport – the second runway at Stansted – isn’t yet operational.
And yet, some may say oddly enough, the Government gave permission for an extra 10 million passengers a year at Stansted and it is widely expected to approve a new runway at Heathrow in the next year. Maybe the government knows something we don’t, or maybe they recognize the value of the aviation industry to the UK and want to ensure that when good times once again return that the capacity for growth is already built into the economy. Some of us would have liked to have seen the growth being pushed at Stansted, against the will of the local people, being spread out around the regional airport so that we can all share in the capacity growth.
After all, UK air travel has increased every year since 1991, even rising by 4 per cent in the wake of 9/11. Since 2003 passenger growth has slowed, rising by 7 per cent, 6 per cent, 3 per cent and 2.3 per cent, hitting 240.7 million in 2007. There is still good grounds for believing that these trends can, and will, be reversed.
So how and why should Norwich Airport be so important in all this?
Firstly, Norwich Airport should provide a very important service to local people. It was with dismay that we greeted the development charge at the Airport; because of fears it would alienate local people. Regional airports are meant to serve their local populations first and foremost. We want people from Norfolk to go on holiday leaving from Norwich airport – cutting the time, hassle, cost and pollution associated with other larger alternatives that are further away. Norwich Airport is a pleasure to use when you consider the sheer stressful nightmare and bewildering array of plastic that other airports can be. Catching a taxi to the airport in Norwich remains an infinite improvement on the drive to Stansted, the cost of parking and lugging your bags half way across Essex when you find your car parking is nowhere near the terminal. Norwich Airport should be the bywords for holiday simplicity. I’d love to take all my holidays from there – we went to Ireland from Norwich and the USA from Stansted. I know which I preferred. Of course, the size of the airport means that you won’t always find the sheer variety of shops and amenities located in the major hubs at regional airports – but if you’re simply there just to fly this isn’t much of a problem and maybe the facilities in the terminal is one aspect of future development.
But for this to work, the airport requires routes that people want to travel at prices they can afford. That FlyBe has cancelled winter flights to some destinations during 08-09, and the subsequent loss of around 700 passengers has contributed to the problems and now the pulling of some Spanish flights makes it worse. The Chief Operating Office of FlyBe said that Norwich was finding attracting customers to Norwich Airport difficult because of the expansion of Stansted Airport and, in part, because of the choice that Stansted offers.
Now turning to the business aspect. Norwich isn’t just a passenger airport; it provides the routes to many of the offshore businesses. It provides a way of getting from the Yarmouth docks to the oil rigs off Aberdeen. And anybody that leaves at 6am will realise that the thud of working boots drowns out the sound of the holiday flip flop. Furthermore, with the link to the undisputed European airport hub at Amsterdam, Norwich can be at the heart of Europe. Businesspeople know that Norwich provides their link to the rest of Europe; literally putting the whole of Norfolk on the map.
The now former Secretary of State for Transport, Ruth Kelly, said that Norwich Airport generated regional growth, jobs and investment, and we should support its development provided that environmental considerations are addressed. I think that’s a view point we can all unite around.
Finally I will speak briefly about the social impact of the airport; it portrays an outward expression of Norwich towards the world. A large number of businesses use it, but so too do UEA students, international visitors to the City who promote the social and cultural development of the City. This is about being outward looking – to see the airport diminish would be to further wind up the drawbridge around Norwich. We have always been a powerful advocate for cooperation and communication at all levels. The airport makes this a reality.
So what do we hope for the future of Norwich Airport? If Norwich Airport was to continue to expand over the next 25 years it could help to put the city “on the map”, according to the East of England Development Agency.
EEDA says that if the airport were to expand its capacity it would have a notable effect on the city’s economy as a whole. The possible is that up to 1,400 jobs would be created as well as vast amounts of investment.
The EEDA report claims that there are currently around 3,460 people directly or indirectly employed through the airport, generating £22.1 million into the region’s economy. Expansion could see these figures increase to 6,700 – with 2,800 of those jobs being in Norfolk alone. It could open up Norfolk to a whole new economy and to the economies of others.
This debate is important because it is about jobs and prosperity for the people of Norwich and Norfolk. Airport expansion, of course, must be balanced against the environmental impact and nobody here would deny this. However my concerns is that this debate is between those of us who want the airport to be the beating heart of the County economy and those who would be happy to see it whittle away to nothing; an irrelevancy in the North of the City.
It’s not just that those who oppose this would want to take away the choice – the liberty – of people to fly from Norwich and take the holidays that they wish to. Because be of no doubt that these are people’s real jobs we’re talking about here; the difference between putting food on the table and not. The livelihoods of local people should not be put at risk because of the political immaturity and pious grandstanding of a few. This is, literally, a liberty and livelihoods issue.
Let us not go back to our wards and tell our residents that their jobs at the airport are at risk. Let us not tell them that their holidays are at risk. Let us not tell them that they have to pollute further by having to travel to other airports. Norwich Airport should be a jewel in our crown; so let’s not knock it and go out there and sell it – talking up our airport and talking up our city.
I would urge Councillors to see the economic and social importance of the airport. These are tough times. Together we can come through them.
This is an extract from a speech made by Antony to Norwich City Council urging them to support dualling of the A11. The motion was easily passed.
There are few issues which can so easily straddle the various political issues of transport, the economy, social deprivation, the environment and safety, yet this one can. In the few minutes available I would like to set out some of the most compelling – not all, but some of the most – reasons for this important work. I trust that members on all sides will come to same conclusion that we in the Conservative Group has.
Uppermost in my mind is the safety aspect. In the last year alone there have been 30 accidents on the single carriage stretch of the A11; most of which could have been avoided if we could have moved faster with the dualling of the last remaining stretch of the A11. Year on year these accidents are in the same ballpark and with each one comes loss of property and maybe, sadly, harm to those involved. Each accident blocks the major route in and out of the county for normally hours upon hours. The hold-ups on the A11 are now famous and the threat of blocking the road with even the simplest of accidents leads to economic hold-ups as well as physical ones. There cannot be a single motorist sitting in that queue who doesn’t want us to pass this motion and get this work done pdq.
When thinking about this issue we ought to really remember that the A11 is a regionally important link, connecting Norwich with London, Cambridge and the Home Counties as well as the Midlands and North, and not just our route in and out of the City. We need to think about the economic importance and the commercial impact as much as the safety and convenience aspect of the dualling.
Currently this dangerous single stretch between Thetford and Fiveways represents a concrete barrier to improving Norwich’s economy and image. With the current economic problems and the credit crunch, we need to make sure now more than ever that Norwich is able to compete in tough times. We need to make trading with Norwich easy and doing business in the City simple.
Traffic problems along this stretch of road result in Norwich being perceived as remote and difficult to get to and with that, having a knock-on-effect on local businesses in terms of inward investment, competitiveness and recruitment. With electronic communications, including video conferencing, on the increase we need to make actually visiting the City to meet our business leaders, councils and advocates as easy as possible.
An independent study conducted by the East of England Development Agency earlier this year concluded this development would deliver time savings to road users worth £557.5m, and wider economic benefits of around £136m. Furthermore, the creation of jobs would aid with attempts to alleviate social deprivation in the region. Dualling this single carriage is the single solution to a lot of economic and social problems.
Norfolk and Suffolk businesses are in full support of the development. With Norwich named by EEDA as one of the region’s engines of growth, this council’s commitment is critical to advancing our City’s potential.
This study reinforces what many business people and councillors, including myself, have been saying for many years, that there will be vast economic benefits to Norfolk in dualling the A11.
But there is a wider story here too. The completion of the dual carriageway will help business in Thetford, Great Yarmouth and Swaffham by increasing access to other businesses elsewhere in the region and beyond. It will also play an important part in increasing economic vitality in the county. Importantly, it will help to ensure that Thetford and Norwich are prepared for the growth that is planned in the next two decades.
To reject this motion is to condemn Norwich and Norfolk to being a peripheral player in the economic ballgame. To reject this motion is to accept the road crash record. To reject this motion is to keep Norfolk and Suffolk at a standstill.
But Norwich’s support tonight could be vital – we’re not just talk about getting the A11 moving but getting our tourist trade, our businesses, our jobs and our economy moving. In tough economic times we need our infrastructure ready. This is overdue and I hope to have your support tonight.
This is an edited extract from a speech that Antony made to the Norwich Conservatives in 2008, outlining his ideas for the City.
At the next election, let’s be positive about Norwich.
Let’s speak up for a great City and its citizens.
And we are a City with much to be proud of and much to shout about. After all, if we the people who chose to live here cannot be positive about the City, who can?
We are a City that has taken mighty economic strides in the last 5 years and we hope will continue in the next 5 years. The Forum, Chapelfield, UEA, The Theatre Royal, 6 award winning Park ‘n’Rides, the 7th best shopping centre in the country, a 3* county council and even our own monopoly board. No doubt the City is changing.
And a good job too; when the manufacturing base of the city declined, especially the shoe industry, and with major companies choosing to relocate out, things could have been different. But the City had adapted to survive; we are now a City where the service sector employs more than the manufacturing sector and where the knowledge economy is driving us forward. The multi-million pound redevelopment of City College, the UEA, Norwich School of Art & Design … we’re a regional capital which is learning to lead.
But let us be clear – this success is mostly is spite of, not because of, the government. And there is another side to the City – a side that means we have a real vision to offer local people, a Conservative vision.
We are a growing economic centre, but a great many of us are concerned that we are not keeping up socially with the economic growth.
In a bid to drive us forward, the government appears willing to let the citizens standards of living fall behind. As well as giving people a job we must give them something more; a decent school for their children, proper NHS provision, a transport that keeps them moving and a sense of safety on the streets. It is here where we can offer a real alternative between us and Labour.
Is it right that here in Norwich we can have 2 schools – Earlham and Costessey – on OFSTED special measures; schools where the teachers live in fear of the pupils, where we can’t find head teachers to fill the vacancies and where the tick box bureaucratic culture takes over the real job of teaching? So it is the job of the Conservatives to convince people of the alternatives; creating a curriculum that makes pupils want to learn and give them interest in their education whilst pursuing a zero tolerance approach to violence in our schools.
Is it right that here in Norwich we can have a flagship PFI hospital that sits on black alert for day after day in the winter, where people are treated in the back of ambulances and where you only have a 50% of finding an NHS dentist? So it is the job of the Conservatives to convince people of the alternatives; real reform that passes control and budgets to frontline professionals, targets that are set at a local level and medical training that is rigorous and encourages British students to enter the profession rather than just plundering other countries.
Is it right that here in Norwich we can have a public transport system that is more expensive than taking taxis; where transport policy is designed to slow us down and prevent business from taking place and where cars are actively discouraged? So it is the job of the Conservatives to convince people of the alternatives; giving total support to an NDR that will free up the City from lorries, encouraging competition in the transport system to cut fares and ensuring that the rights of motorists – and of business – are championed.
Is it right that here in Norwich we can have the majority of our police patrolling one street – Prince of Wales Road – on just two nights a week; where the police are being eroded elsewhere. So it is the job of the Conservatives to convince people of the alternatives; giving our police the respect they deserve, putting policing before form filling and passing the police force out to our suburbs as well as our city centres.
It is the job of the Conservatives to put these arguments front and centre. We cannot sit back and let the government self destruct, we must win a mandate based upon what difference a Conservative government would make to Britain.
So that’s why I want to be our next MP; to serve the City in which I live and work. To improve education, to work for the NHS, to sort out transport and make our streets safe. That’s why I am going to campaign day and night to make it happen.
