The preferred contractor to run Shoreham airport is planning to turn it into an international hub offering commercial flights all over Europe.

The Erinaceous Group plans to provide hundreds of jobs under a redevelopment which is expected to bring millions of pounds into the local economy.

The company will build a new railway station and park-and-ride if Worthing Borough and Brighton and Hove City councils, the airport's owners, agree to appoint it as the private sector partner to operate and develop the airport.

The blueprint includes the introduction of commercial flights to the UK and European destinations, including Paris, Edinburgh, Amsterdam and Dublin.

There would also be a visitor centre, aviation academy, business park, leisure services and mixed commercial activities on the airport's southern perimeter.

The airport, which has recently been rebranded as Brighton City Airport, would transfer to the new operator from April next year on a 150-year lease.

Erinaceous says it wants to begin with a five-year improvement programme of existing facilities at that stage. The company has proposed to protect the jobs and existing employment conditions of the airport's 27 staff and says it will not need to build new runways.

Danny Roberts, of business organisation Sussex Enterprise, said: "This is fantastic news for Shoreham and the local economy.

"If these plans go ahead, it would mean hundreds of job opportunities, as well as a significant increase in overseas travellers and visitors using the airport.

"Obviously, this will bring a huge economic boost to the area and impact a wide variety of industries while allowing the airport to develop much more commercially."

But some residents living near the airport are not seeing the news as a positive step.

Shoreham resident Martin Allen, 58, said: "The development to the airport will mean an increase in traffic. Although they are talking about building a station and say most of the traffic will be along the A27, there is still a question of traffic on the coast road.

"On the positive side, I think anything that can increase the economic well-being of the area is good."

Friday, September 16, 2005