A Green New Deal for Gatwick
an urgent call for jobs investment in response to COVID-19
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A joint report by PCS, Green House and Green New Deal UK on the urgent need for jobs investment in the Gatwick diamond in response to COVID-19.
This report considers the crisis in employment at Gatwick airport and in the surrounding areas as a result of the Covid-19 pandemic. It challenges a troubling perception - that ‘there is no work’. We examine the latent skills potential held by former aviation workers and propose a constructive, positive investment in quality, secure jobs - jobs that meet the present and future needs of communities and the environment. We found that 16,000 jobs could be created in the retrofit of housing, public transport (trains and buses), nature restoration and social care to replace those lost as a result of the decline in use of the airport.
This is just the outline of a proposal and an indication of the scale of opportunity and feasibility, to prompt discussion around Gatwick’s future and the need for a new way forward - with workers and the community in the driving seat.
Read the full report here.
Tahir Latif, PCS Aviation Group President, said:
“This report exposes both the false hope of getting straight back on Gatwick’s growth train, and the doomsday view that “there is no work”.
Covid-19 has brought Gatwick and the aviation industry to a crucial tipping point much sooner than would have been the case otherwise, and there’s no going back. But while trade unions representing workers associated with the airport must continue to fight for job protection and retention, there is a huge amount of work to be done elsewhere in the regional economy.
For well under half the annual tax break the Government gives to Gatwick, it could set the whole surrounding area on a zero carbon trajectory and create thousands of secure, fulfilling jobs in the process.”
Fatima Ibrahim, Co-Director of Green New Deal UK said:
“The jobs crisis around Gatwick airport is a microcosm of both the challenges and opportunities that the economic impact of Covid-19 is bringing to the fore. The Government talks a good game on job creation and green stimulus, but the allocated funding is nowhere near what is required to tackle unemployment or the climate crisis.
This report shows the scale of investment required - and the benefits that can be reaped, from a secure future for workers to lower pollution and stronger local economies.
With Gatwick itself projecting that passenger numbers will not recover for many years, changing business practices globally, and 30% of the public indicating they intend to fly less after the pandemic, astronomical growth projections can no longer be depended upon. In an industry where just 1% of the population cause over 50% of emissions, continuing that dependence is neither sustainable nor fair. Gatwick needs a Green New Deal.”
Cllr Jonathan Essex of Green House Think Tank said:
“We need to shift from growing Gatwick Airport and the carbon emissions associated with air travel to growing the employment needed to create local economies that are stronger, more resilient and zero carbon.
Creating the range of new jobs needed, from delivering an energy makeover of all homes and scaling-up public transport, to better caring for our most vulnerable as well as nature, will provide new opportunities for those who have recently lost their jobs or on long-term furlough.
A Green New Deal for Gatwick would deploy the skills and expertise of local people, and cost far less public investment than recent aviation tax breaks and bailouts.”
This report considers the crisis in employment at Gatwick airport and in the surrounding areas as a result of the Covid-19 pandemic. It challenges a troubling perception - that ‘there is no work’. We examine the latent skills potential held by former aviation workers and propose a constructive, positive investment in quality, secure jobs - jobs that meet the present and future needs of communities and the environment. We found that 16,000 jobs could be created in the retrofit of housing, public transport (trains and buses), nature restoration and social care to replace those lost as a result of the decline in use of the airport.
This is just the outline of a proposal and an indication of the scale of opportunity and feasibility, to prompt discussion around Gatwick’s future and the need for a new way forward - with workers and the community in the driving seat.
Read the full report here.
Tahir Latif, PCS Aviation Group President, said:
“This report exposes both the false hope of getting straight back on Gatwick’s growth train, and the doomsday view that “there is no work”.
Covid-19 has brought Gatwick and the aviation industry to a crucial tipping point much sooner than would have been the case otherwise, and there’s no going back. But while trade unions representing workers associated with the airport must continue to fight for job protection and retention, there is a huge amount of work to be done elsewhere in the regional economy.
For well under half the annual tax break the Government gives to Gatwick, it could set the whole surrounding area on a zero carbon trajectory and create thousands of secure, fulfilling jobs in the process.”
Fatima Ibrahim, Co-Director of Green New Deal UK said:
“The jobs crisis around Gatwick airport is a microcosm of both the challenges and opportunities that the economic impact of Covid-19 is bringing to the fore. The Government talks a good game on job creation and green stimulus, but the allocated funding is nowhere near what is required to tackle unemployment or the climate crisis.
This report shows the scale of investment required - and the benefits that can be reaped, from a secure future for workers to lower pollution and stronger local economies.
With Gatwick itself projecting that passenger numbers will not recover for many years, changing business practices globally, and 30% of the public indicating they intend to fly less after the pandemic, astronomical growth projections can no longer be depended upon. In an industry where just 1% of the population cause over 50% of emissions, continuing that dependence is neither sustainable nor fair. Gatwick needs a Green New Deal.”
Cllr Jonathan Essex of Green House Think Tank said:
“We need to shift from growing Gatwick Airport and the carbon emissions associated with air travel to growing the employment needed to create local economies that are stronger, more resilient and zero carbon.
Creating the range of new jobs needed, from delivering an energy makeover of all homes and scaling-up public transport, to better caring for our most vulnerable as well as nature, will provide new opportunities for those who have recently lost their jobs or on long-term furlough.
A Green New Deal for Gatwick would deploy the skills and expertise of local people, and cost far less public investment than recent aviation tax breaks and bailouts.”