Representation by The Woldingham Association (The Woldingham Association)
- Date submitted
- 18 September 2023
- Submitted by
- Non-statutory organisations
The Woldingham Association was set up over 100 years ago to promote and conserve the character of Woldingham and its surrounding countryside. We oppose this project for the following reasons: - Its detrimental impact on climate change - we should not be encouraging more flights, and the likelihood is that in the near future Governments around the world will be seeking to reduce flights in order to meet environmental targets, so the new runway would become a highly expensive white elephant -Proximity to busy airports is shown to reduce wellbeing and quality of life due to noise pollution and reduced air quality - the second runway would produce the same effects in communities around Gatwick that is currently see at Heathrow and around other bigger airports - The proposal is disingenuous - there is no existing northern runway currently operating as a second runway in conjunction with the main runway....the other runway is purely an emergency runway and is not used. Gatwick is misleading residents to the existence of a second runway currently and conducting a campaign that is not straightforward or honest. If there is to be a second runway countenanced then the proper procedure for this needs to be gone through...this is trying to get a second runway by stealth. -Gatwick makes no sense as a hub airport to be used in conjunction with Heathrow to interchange internationally as the two airports are currently too far apart and difficult to get between for this purpose, and creating a link between them would be vastly expensive, disruptive and uneconomic.