Sian Berry today presented plans to close London City Airport and regenerate the site by building homes and creating opportunities for businesses.
Speaking outside The Crystal, GLA’s future home near the city’s airport, Ms Berry today pledged to use a mayor development company to support the site plans if she is elected on May 6.
Mayor development companies have been used to regenerate the Olympic Park site in east London as well as Old Oak and Park Royal in west London.
The closure of London City Airport could create a 500,000 m2 site “to provide jobs and housing,” according to Ms Berry, using not only the airport site itself, but the surrounding area which does not. currently cannot be developed due to the high levels of noise pollution and the airport crash zone.
Ms Berry said: “I really think this area has the potential to be an amazing new neighborhood for London. It’s on the water, there’s room for houses, there’s room for new parks, new green spaces, new businesses. And I think it should be a hub for green businesses like repairs and digital businesses to support the city. This is the perfect place for it all.
London City Airport saw passenger numbers increase to more than five million in 2019, with an increase in the number of passengers taking short-haul domestic flights.
But since the start of the pandemic last year, the number of passengers has fallen by more than 80% and the number of flights has also declined.
Today, Sian Berry said: “France has developed a strategy to remove exactly the types of flights that this airport offers and within government we have now tightened our climate target. These now also include aviation. So we have to reduce the number of flights, reduce short flights. This airport is very small, it is the smallest airport in London. Closing it down and using the land for good would really benefit our city and help us achieve so many other things.
“In addition, during the pandemic, this airport remained virtually silent. There have been very few thefts and the owners have already suspended their expansion plans, approved by Sadiq Khan. So they might be very interested in talking to me about more sustainable ways to make their investment profitable. ”
The Green Party candidate had previously pledged to shut down City Airport and redevelop the site when she ran for mayor in London in 2016, with a plan to set up a consortium to buy the land.
The plan was backed by a report from the New Economics Foundation, which found that the redevelopment of the site could create up to 16,000 jobs and add £ 400million to the UK economy.
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Source: www.times-series.co.uk
This notice was published: 2021-04-26 13:00:00
