The importance of Heathrow airport to the local and national economy should not be underestimated says community campaign, Back Heathrow.
Last year the airport was comfortably Britain’s biggest payer of business rates, according to the Altus Group - paying a bill of £118m, which goes to local councils and central government, and ultimately funds public services.
Heathrow’s contribution to the public purse dwarfs the others in the top ten business rate-payer list, with Gatwick airport the second highest payer on £30.4m and Sellafield nuclear power station contributing £24m.
Other sites that depend on Heathrow’s existence also made the top 50. British Airways’ Terminal 5 building; BA’s world cargo terminal and the airline’s engineering base paid business rates of £13.8 million, £22.4 million and £13.1 million respectively.
Back Heathrow Executive Director, Parmjit Dhanda said: “These figures are quite staggering. Heathrow is not just Britain’s front door to trade. It also supports local and central government to the tune of over £118 million in business rates, which in turn funds our public services. We all depend on this airport’s success for our public services.”
West London has upwards of 150,000 jobs that depend on Heathrow airport. They contribute over £6bn to the economy, but due to government’s lack of support for aviation, many of these jobs are in peril. Thousands of jobs have already been slashed by airlines and related industries around the country. West London is particularly vulnerable because it is home to Heathrow, one of the country’s biggest generators of jobs. But the whole country is affected by a downturn at Heathrow, which will result in a decline in the tax take.
Mr Dhanda added: “The government needs to realise it is not just tourism, leisure and trade that is threatened by their lack of a plan to support the aviation sector. The business rates alone from Heathrow provides government with over £100m annually towards local and national public services. It’s time for government to show that it cares about Heathrow.”
Before Covid-19 brought the economy to a standstill, Heathrow was Britain’s biggest port by value. Back Heathrow would like to see the government urgently produce:
- Consistent regulations for Coronavirus testing at all UK airports, as part of consistent global standards to restore public confidence
- A plan to protect airlines from collapse
- A long-term plan for UK aviation.