It is great news that Severfield UK LTD, based at the Dalton Airfield Industrial Estate, is one of 18 sites progressing to the final tender stage of the Heathrow Logistics Hub process as part of the expansion of Heathrow Airport. The shortlisted sites are drawn from 121 Expressions of Interest from across the UK in the Summer of 2017 and then narrowed down to 65 sites in November 2017. They have now been invited to enter a formal tender process this Autumn and the final 4 Heathrow Logistics Hubs will be announced in early 2020.
I am absolutely delighted that Severfield has got this far. It involves a huge amount of work and I wish them all the best in the final stages. The hubs would provide a base where component parts for the expanded Heathrow airport would be assembled for transport to Heathrow and will help ensure that communities outside of London benefit from the expansion. It would be fantastic if they are successful as this would mean more jobs directly in the Thirsk area.
It’s been estimated that Heathrow’s planned expansion could bring up to £12 billion in economic benefits to Yorkshire with 60 per cent of the supply chain outside of London and the South East, which is good news for business of all sizes and could create over 11,000 jobs for the Yorkshire region.
Heathrow is Europe's busiest airport and one of the world's top international aviation hubs. It currently welcomes 78 million passengers each year and it is Britain's largest cargo port by values so it’s expansion will have other knock on benefits for Yorkshire. The new runway also has the potential to serve the region by connecting flights from Leeds-Bradford airport, which is good for exporters and for transatlantic travellers. I fully support anything that will boost our local economy, create jobs and improve transport links to the North to connect with faster and more frequent services across northern cities which I have long been campaigning for.
