00:00Well this is the third year mark that we've run the summit so we're delighted that we've
00:05continued this great work and this is the biggest one today we've got about 200 delegates here
00:10that includes many partners from business but also from the public sector as well so lots of our
00:16councils are here which we're delighted to see them participating and also our business
00:22association groups so there's just lots of delegates who are really wanting to have this
00:27conversation about how do we optimize the regional economy and we're pleased to play our role as
00:32Gatwick Airport in hosting this event given that we're a big catalyst to the regional economy.
00:37Well obviously we have economists to review what is the positive impact of Gatwick on the regional
00:42economy currently we generate about 4.1 billion pounds through our activities to the regional
00:49economy so we're a huge anchor to the regional economy and we're delighted to play that role
00:55hence we host this event on an annual basis but of course we're not stopping there what we'd
01:00really like to see in the new year is the government give us permission for the routine
01:04use of our northern runway because in due course when we develop that facility we'll actually
01:09create about 14,000 additional jobs across the region some of which will be on the airport
01:15but also an additional 1 billion pounds of GVA to the regional economy. So as we've been holding
01:21these conferences obviously one of the purposes is to take feedback from the delegates and one of
01:26the big pushes from the delegates is for the airport to form an airport economic zone so we've
01:32decided to take that forward this year we'll start this before the end of 2024 and we'll be reaching
01:39out and involving all of the different partner organizations to get their input as we start to
01:44form a board which will be chaired by our head of external affairs and policy.
Comments