Member Article

Save Teesside Airport campaign relaunches following steel crisis

A campaign backed by more than 6,000 Teessiders to save the region’s airport has been relaunched in the wake of the death of local steelmaking.

‘Save Teesside Airport’ campaigners have launched a new petition calling on Stockton South MP James Wharton, the Northern Powerhouse minister, to use his influence to rescue the ailing airport.

Fronted by local businessman and charity leader Andy Preston, the move follows a previous petition signed by 2,000 people calling on a public inquiry into the “shocking decline” of Durham Tees Valley Airport.

And a poll carried out by Teesside magazine Now and Then saw 95% of 3,800 voting against plans by owners Peel Holdings to build 400 houses on airport land, while other polls have also shown wide scale support to save the airport.

Now the campaigners have joined forces to launch a new combined campaign they hope the Northern Powerhouse minister cannot ignore.

Mr Preston organised the original petition after secretive local councils turned down Freedom of Information requests from ‘Save Teesside Airport’ campaigners, as they insisted details were “commercially sensitive”.

Mr Preston said: “Teesside’s lost its steelmaking heart, and the airport looks like it’ll be next to go – we need to fight this now before it’s too late. 1000s of jobs and a little bit of Teesside has been lost forever – but we can fight back. We can’t change the past, but we can impact the future – let’s fight to save Teesside Airport before it’s too late.

The campaign by residents across Teesside follows the shocking decline in passengers at Durham Tees Valley Airport since Peel took over in 2002, from a peak of more than 900,000 as recently as 2006 to latest annual figures of just 140,000 for the year ending February 2015 – a fall of 84%.

Mr Preston said: “This isn’t party political – it’s about Teesside’s future. I’m still not sure what the Northern Powerhouse is but it’s got to be about protecting Teesside’s infrastructure and boosting connectivity.

“Losing our airport, as seems inevitable if things continue as they are, would be catastrophic for both our infrastructure and connectivity.

“I’m all for government ministers being appointed to look after the North. I think that’s a great thing. James Wharton has been given a job to develop the North and it strikes me that retaining and expanding Teesside’s connectivity with rest of country and the world has to be part of that.

“If we lose that connectivity then we also lose our ability to create jobs and investment. We need a direct rail service between Middlesbrough and London, and I hope James Wharton is focusing on that, but first and foremost we absolutely must not lose the airport.

“If you lose the airport, it sends out a message to the rest of the country and the rest of the world that you’re an average, run-of-the-mill place that doesn’t have ambition or economic clout.”

Mr Preston is critical of the politicians, including local councillors who have sat on the airport’s board of directors, for overseeing the airport’s decline.

And he and his fellow campaigners believe plans to build housing on the site will be the beginning of the end for the airport.

He continued: “Under the watch of different politicians, we’re already close to losing our airport. It’s time for the public to stop trusting these clowns who’ve let the airport reach the point of near death.

“It’s time to start speaking out and taking action. We’ve got to start challenging the Northern Powerhouse minister to get his hands and do something.

“He has to reassure the people of Teesside that the Northern Powerhouse is not just another empty phrase - that it’s actually real, it’s got teeth and is going to help us win investment and jobs. That must start by taking action to save our airport. I honestly don’t know now if our airport can still be viable but it’s clearly a mess and no politician from any party has sorted it out.

“They are screwing over the people of Teesside while picking up their big salaries and allowances. This is a chance for James Wharton to show us he is different.”