This is what Crawley needs from the Government's upcoming Levelling Up White Paper - Peter Lamb, leader of Crawley Borough Council

The anthology, titled What urban leaders want from the Levelling Up White Paper, includes a contribution from Cllr Peter Lamb, leader of Crawley Borough Council.

In the anthology, he said: "There is a myth of a poor North and a rich South. The reality is pockets of wealth and deprivation exist everywhere.

"Crawley’s aviation-heavy economy has felt the economic consequences of Covid-19 more than anywhere else.

"Yet, even before the pandemic one in three children were growing up in poverty, the mismatch between wages and house prices was amongst the UK’s worst, and we had the lowest social mobility in the region. A ‘return to normal’ won’t cut it.

"For Crawley, levelling up means rebuilding the skilled work in light industry on which the New Town was founded, only this time focusing on green technology.

"Better paid employment, with strong growth prospects, and less vulnerable to automation.

"While supportive national economic and trade policies are critical, on the ground investment in infrastructure and skills are central to ensuring the Johnson Administration’s promises don’t simply amount to ‘levelling down’ my community."

The full report can be read here. The contributions were all written before the Government’s transport announcements this weekend.