Representation by Stuart Cole
- Date submitted
- 21 September 2023
- Submitted by
- Members of the public/businesses
The government has held an enquiry into where additional runway should be built. The decision was that it should be at Heathrow despite Gatwick arguing that it should be there. The decision to build at Heathrow should stand, and Gatwick should not be allowed to progress with their plans. Gatwick is already a poor neighbour. I live eight miles away from Gatwick and have to endure planes flying overhead throughout the day. In the summer they are so low it is not possible to hold a conversation outside if one is overhead. Complaints to Gatwick do not even raise a resoponse. Planes are getting larger (A380) and they are flying considerably lower. No consultation has taken place regarding the types of aircraft, timing of take offs, or even the fact that they wish to build a new runway. They appear to believe that they can do what they want. Gatwick portray the new runway as just using a spare one they have at the moment. This is incorrect. The emergency runway is hardly ever used, and when it is the main runway is not used. The proposal is for a completely new runway, in a new location, af a longer length than the existing emergency runway. The proposal will double Gatwick's capacity. There is not the local infrastructure to support such an expansion. The local roads are used as cut throughs to Gatwick, the M23 and M25 are regularly congested and closed causing further disruption to locals. Even the railway connectivity is poor with Gatwick Express now running less frequently than before. The waste water processing has unsufficient capacity resulting in local watercourses such as the Mole being polluted. There are insufficient houses for the additional workers that will be required to build and man the new runway. Already parts of Sussex between Horsham and Crawley have already experienced huge expansion with the two towns almost being joined. Gatwick already acts as a drain on the local economy taking staff from local businesses whenever expansion happens causing uncertainty. Wages have to be higher in this area because of Gatwick. Living under the flightpath I am concerned about the pollution, from light, fumes, and noise that the new runway will cause during operation and building. If new airport capacity is required then it should be in areas that are currently economically deprived, not in the South East which already has every advantage. A larger Gatwick will just draw more travellers to the South East from the rest of the country increasing the North South divide, increasing pollution from the journeys to and from Gatwick, and causing yet more congestion in the region. An additional runway would hinder Net Zero targets by increasing flights when we shoudl be using more efficient and less polluting transport.