Representation by Zaheer Uddin Khan
- Date submitted
- 18 September 2023
- Submitted by
- Members of the public/businesses
The CEO of Gatwick Airport should be removed as co-chair of the Aviation Council as it provides him with privilege access to the Aviation Minister at a time when his company seeks mass expansion. I oppose this Gatwick Airport application for a northern runway because it is a new runway not a development of an existing runway. Policy has been misinterpreted by the applicant as this is an application for a new runway which does not comply with policy, Government’s Aviation Strategy. Gatwick does not have 2 runways that it can operate concurrently today - as such it is a new runway being constructed. Increase in aircraft noise – evidence an additional 101,000 flights a year to a cap of 386,000. Lack of affordable housing locally to enable workers to walk or cycle to work as the applicant proposes. Plus a lack of amentities. Low skilled jobs are offered with little job security due to the volatile nature of the airport’s leisure business. Gatwick sits on a single main road, the M23 which is deemed an unsafe smart road. To add to the huge increase in freight, passengers and workers will cause a significant increase in congestion on residential roads and an inevitable decline in air quality. The airport sits on the Brighton Main Line, which can’t be expanded. Gatwick seeks to add an unacceptable burden to the line with over 32m extra passengers. We face a climate emergency, and a new runway would add a significant amount of carbon and greenhouse gases – Evidence CCC (2020) The Sixth Carbon Budget – Methodology Report. Available at: www.theccc.org.uk