“We want to be the South Korea of the South East,” says Crawley council boss

Natalie Brahma-Pearl, chief executive of Crawley Borough Council

Crawley is a major economic region and should be regarded as the ‘South Korea of the South East,’ says its council’s chief executive.

Twenty five per cent of economic output in West Sussex is generated by Crawley despite the borough occupying just 2 per cent of the land, people were told at an Invest Crawley: Commercial Breakfast Briefing.

Crawley also has the second-highest job density in the country outside London with world-leading companies such as Virgin Atlantic, Elekta, Varian, Thales, and Boeing having bases here.

Natalie Brahma-Pearl, chief executive of Crawley Borough Council, told the meeting: “Crawley is a major economic region within the Gatwick Diamond and the greater Brighton area.

“It is recognised that as a borough area, it punches well above its weight.

“Its close proximity to London as well as Brighton, works in our favour with great transport links, including four stations.

“We’ve got all the benefits of London but with more competitive rates.”

She added: “We want to be regarded as the South Korea of the South East.

“We are more advanced than most areas in terms of digital connectivity and that’s what will drive business; how fast you can work.”

Centre for Cities had found Crawley to be “the most resilient place in England in terms of hard or soft Brexit”, she said.

She added: “So, it’s a really good place to invest.

“There are more and more cranes in Crawley and there’s a lot of development going on.