Runway Means Business ; BACKGROUND: Nick Paul, the Chairman of AWM, Looks at the Agency’s Pounds 25 Million Investment in Birmingham International Airport

This week, a decision that I believe will be key to the future of our region’s economy was made by the board of Advantage West Midlands.

The board agreed to support the proposals for an expansion to the runway at Birmingham International Airport – an idea that has been mooted since the mid-1990s.

As well as reaffirming our commitment to the runway expansion, an agreement was reached that the agency commit up to pounds 25 million investment to the project, if – and only if – the right application is submitted by the airport company.

That our region does not have a globally connected airport is a constant complaint of virtually every stakeholder and partner we deal with.

To many, the fact that Manchester and London is able to offer a wide array of long-haul flights while we are blocked by a shortage of 400 metres of asphalt, is, frankly, something of an embarrassment.

In today’s global economy, our businesses need to travel the world to do business and, equally importantly, the world needs to travel to us.

We can’t keep talking about Birmingham and our other cities as major players on the international stage if the key markets of China and India are out of our reach.

The benefits of Advantage West Midlands making this investment speak for themselves. Last year, research we commissioned for Solihull Metropolitan Borough Council suggested that there are 54,000 jobs supported in and around the M42 corridor at sites including the airport, the NEC and key investment sites such as Birmingham Business Park and Blythe Valley Park, together contributing pounds 2.1 billion of output to the regional economy.

Connecting the airport to global markets is forecast to increase this to 125,000 jobs and pounds 11 billion of output.

And then there are the wider effects, such as making our region even more attractive to foreign investors and enabling us to build on our impressive recent record on inward investment.

Furthermore, the improved connectivity will enhance innovation as a result of improved collaboration between our companies and those abroad by allowing more effective networking.

All of this, for a pounds 25 million investment.

You would expect Advantage West Midlands to be supporting economic development.

However, we recognise that inward investment has to be sustainable.

It is absolutely essential that the prosperity this runway development will bring does not come at the expense of the environment.

None of this proposed activity is to deny that serious issues need to be addressed.

Advantage West Midlands places great importance on sustainable economic development and we are investing million in projects which are continuing to address the impact on the environment that comes with increased travel.

For example, we are helping Rolls-Royce to fund its pounds 95 million research project to find ways of producing greener aircraft engines, and working with the University of Warwick’s Premium Automotive Research and Development programme to accelerate research and implementation of automotive technologies such as premium lightweight vehicles, hybrid technologies and advanced engine management systems.

While we support the expansion of the runway, this must be part of a balanced set of measures which will address transport and environmental challenges.

These will all be addressed by the airport company as part of the application for planning control and the submission to Advantage West Midlands for investment assistance.

We will be working with the airport company in the months ahead to help it design and implement a suitable development plan for the airport.

We see this as a major opportunity to make a real change to the economic fortunes of our region, but not at any cost.

Like the development of Birmingham Gateway – another major transport project we have committed investment towards – this is a chance to really improve our region’s performance and enhance our image in the rest of the world.

For so long, this runway expansion has been talked about.

Now, hopefully, our commitment to making this a reality – both in policy terms and financial terms – will provide our region with a truly international airport.

This column is sponsored by Advantage West Midlands

“In today’s global economy, our businesses need to travel the world to do business and, equally importantly, the world needs to travel to us

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