Thursday 25 October 2018 8:03 am | Updated: Tuesday 21 May 2019 4:21 pm

Go for growth and pursue the untapped potential of Crossrail

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You may have watched Stanley Kubrick’s 1987 film Full Metal Jacket, but it’s unlikely that you realised that much of the depiction of war-torn Vietnam was actually filmed on location in south east England.

Beckton gasworks, less than a mile from London City Airport, was used as the set for the Vietnamese city of Hue, and Cliffe Marshes in north Kent, near the small Medway town, doubled as the Vietnam countryside.

That piece of twentieth-century film trivia illustrates Hollywood’s distortion of the “Garden of England”, but there is a reason why the aesthetic of the river’s fringes suited the film. Today, the Thames Gateway – stretching from east London to the mouth of the estuary – presents the biggest brownfield opportunity in the south east.

It is an opportunity that should be seized for the benefit of communities and businesses in the south east, and will be a major topic next week, when I open the Thames Estuary Growth Day.

The annual event brings together the private sector and more than 20 local authorities from London, Essex and Kent, to further shape the region’s future and determine its role in London’s growth and UK prosperity.

From our location in the rapidly regenerating Royal Docks, London City Airport has a huge role to play in unlocking the full potential of this economic corridor.

Today, the airport offers 45 connections and counting; flag carriers serve major European cities, leisure stops, and domestic routes; and to meet growing demand from all types of travellers, the airport is growing.

In 2022, a £500m transformation will be complete, leaving virtually no part of the airport untouched and delivering 2,000 jobs. The private investment will create a passenger experience that confirms London City as the best gateway for the capital and Thames Estuary.

There are clearly several ingredients which will accelerate the region’s success, and this government has been quick to recognise the economic potential and need by establishing the Thames Estuary Growth Commission.

It is my view that strategic transport infrastructure has the biggest role to play in expediting the opportunities in this part of the south east.

It is for that reason that the airport recently joined the Crossrail to Ebbsfleet (C2E) campaign. Our collective ambition is an extension along the south east branch of the Elizabeth Line from the current terminus, Abbey Wood, to Ebbsfleet.

This modest intervention will have seismic benefits, helping to deliver the government’s housing and industrial strategies through 55,000 new homes and 50,000 jobs in the corridor, along with a strategic interchange with HS1, and providing a projected £8.5bn boost annually for the London economy by 2050.

For London City, which already has the highest proportion of public transport access of any UK airport, the creation of a Crossrail station here, as part of this scheme, truly maximises the potential of an Ebbsfleet extension. It would serve both passengers and the local community, and be a missing piece of the connectivity puzzle in the Thames Gateway, with minimum burden to the public purse.

Furthermore, at its proposed location on the existing section between Custom House and Woolwich, it would be within easy reach for Kent business and leisure travellers that are poorly served by airports.

The economic benefits of the C2E opportunity are clear, but the next step is to build a full business case and find the right funding model. Sir John Armitt, chair of the National Infrastructure Commission, signalled support in June for government funding to help C2E develop this. I echo this sentiment, and hope that on Monday the chancellor will see fit to allocate £25m to take forward a business case.

Let this not be the stuff of Hollywood fiction, but a powerful symbol that Britain is open for business, and planning for good growth in the long term.