Durham Tees Valley Airport
Debate between Phil Wilson and Paul Williams(6 years, 5 months ago)
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Dr Paul Williams (Stockton South) (Lab)
My hon. Friend is being very generous in giving way. I recently met a team from the Great North Air Ambulance Service, which is based at the airport. So far this year, it has responded to 400 calls in an area covering 8,000 square miles in the north of England. Will my hon. Friend join me in commending the vital work that it does in serving our communities? Does he agree that we should continue to do what we can to support that great charity?
Phil Wilson
The air ambulance service, which is based at the airport, provides a great service for the area. Where I live, I can sometimes see it flying over to get to an incident. It is a great charity, and I want to see it grow and prosper there.
Regional airports support the business community, whose key needs from regional air services are an increase in destinations and the frequency of flights to major travel hubs such as Schiphol, access to major markets, and links to London and the south-east, especially Heathrow. A third runway at Heathrow airport is key for regional airports such as Durham Tees Valley, which has been listed as one of the regional airports that will have access to it.
Durham Tees Valley airport plays a much wider strategic role in the region. It has been consistently recognised as a key asset for the region in regional strategic plans and national reports such as Lord Heseltine’s independent report, “Tees Valley: opportunity unlimited”. The report also highlighted the importance for the Tees Valley economy of having international connectivity with its global trading partners, and highlighted the opportunities that the airport brings for logistics, freight and wider aviation-related services.
Durham Tees Valley can drive a major employment cluster of both aviation and non-aviation businesses in and around the airport. Regional airports typically have the space, capacity and environment to host such businesses in a way that larger passenger-focused airports cannot. Durham Tees Valley’s 800-acre site, known as Aero Centre Tees Valley, is a prime example of that. To unlock those investments, the airport needs the support of local and national leaders and public sector partners to create the right conditions for investment in public infrastructure. I would love to hear from the Minister what more the Government can do to help.