London Southend Airport is a major asset for Southend-on-Sea and the wider South Essex sub-region. It is identified as a major economic driver for the future business and commercial development of the town and the sub-region and is endorsed in the Regeneration Framework and supported by the Partners for the economic growth and regeneration of Southend-on-Sea. The future growth of the local and sub-regional economic growth will be achieved through the development of the airport for commercial flights and industrial activities based on the expansion of the aviation business and industrial cluster, in particular enhancing the Maintenance, Repair and Overhaul (MRO) business. The aviation operation and the MRO based businesses need to be provided the opportunity to expand their operations in the industrial and employment area on the periphery of the airport, in terms of allocating adjacent land for employment purposes to meet future needs.

To enable the airport expand and to increase its operations for commercial flights, extending the runway will become necessary. The existing runway length is inadequate to meet the requirements of the airline operators and without the improvement of the airport infrastructure there will be considerable uncertainty in the airports role for attracting commercial passenger flights operator(s).

LSA at present with its good connections and future improvements in the infrastructure and facilities is well placed to become a regional airport. The future development of the airport is supported at the national level by the Air Transport White Paper (2003), the regional level by the East of England Plan (Policies E7 and T12) and by the sub-regional strategies of the Thames Gateway.