Of course a modest expansion of Oxford Airport is good news (The Issue, in Wednesday’s Oxford Mail).

In Oxfordshire we are suffering from the recession, people are losing their jobs, and firms are closing.

In the longer term, we have a fantastically strong economy, but there is a large public sector – health, academe, local government and military – that will feel the national pinch well after the private sector is on the road to recovery.

There is also a hugely exciting private sector – spin-out companies from the universities, the knowledge economy, innovation and high-tech in a range of areas, the BMW Mini and, now, an electric car, motor sport and more publishers than London.

We have the potential to lift the South East and the country out of recession. What could hold us back? Only two things: insufficient skills and poor transport.

To have a regional airport on our doorstep has to be a huge attraction to international businesses considering inward investment, and we should be exploiting it for all it is worth. Landings and take-offs at Oxford airport are a quarter of what they were when trainee pilots at Kidlington gained their flying skills in the air rather than on simulators.

We should be encouraging a modest increase in usage, aimed at the corporate and business market. This can only help our economy to grow.

I am not surprised the Greens are opposing this expansion. They would drive us back to the Stone Age if they could, in their search for a socialist green utopia of low wages, low growth and stagnation.

Keith R Mitchell, Leader of the Council, Oxfordshire County Council, County Hall, Oxford