Gatwick Diamond

The Gatwick Diamond is a name invented as a brand for a loosely defined economic area that surrounds Gatwick Airport, some 30 miles south of London. It stretches from the edge of London and the North Downs in the North to the edge of Brighton and the South Downs in the South, from Horsham in the West to East Grinstead in the East. It is an area covering 400 square miles which benefits from two ‘Areas of Outstanding Natural Beauty’ - the Surrey Hills and the South Downs National Park. It has a population of 680,000 and its economy generates £20.7bn GDP. 12 million people live within one hour’s drive. There are 406,000 economically active people in the Gatwick Diamond; 81% of the working age population is economically active. 74% of Gatwick Diamond workers are residents (Annual population Survey 2011). The Unemployment level is very low at 1.4%. The Gatwick Diamond is home to 45,000 businesses including many UK and European Headquarters. Some of these companies are: Unilever, Exxon Mobil, Toyota, Doosan, Thales Group, Varian Medical Systems, Elekta, Nestle, EDF Energy, Edwards Vacuum, Canon Inc. and G4S. It also contains the Manor Royal Business Park – the largest business park in the UK, containing 550 businesses and employing around 35,000 people.

The Gatwick Diamond Initiative is a business led private/public partnership that was established in April 2003 to improve the economic performance of the Area. It now includes 7 local borough/district councils (Horsham, Crawley, Mid Sussex, Tandridge, Reigate & Banstead, Mole Valley and Epsom & Ewell) and two county councils (West Sussex and Surrey), as well as a range of private sector partners.

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