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Representation by Dorking Climate Emergency (Dorking Climate Emergency)

Date submitted
3 October 2023
Submitted by
Non-statutory organisations
  1. Net zero will obviously not be reached in aviation by 2050 and this is a further step away from our legally binding target. 2. Despite the low percentage of people who fly, the industry is heavily subsidised by the government. 3. This is unacceptable discrimination against other transport sectors that have self-financed green change and/or are struggling to compete against aviation. 4. Gatwick continues to have issues with air quality, as monitored by Reigate and Banstead council. Gatwick continues to breach NOx air quality to the northeast. With Gatwick seeking a 2nd runway (up from 285,000 aircraft movements pre-Covid, to a staggering 382,000 a year), together with FASIS, we will face a 35%- 40% increase in small particles. 4. Gatwick states that it would then see an increase to 75.6m passengers a year by 2038 and 80.2m by 2047 (from 46.6m pre-Covid) plus workers and freight, all trying to reach Gatwick Airport, predominantly by road as the railway line cannot be expanded. 5. Gatwick specify that cargo would increase to over 200,000 tonnes with a 2nd runway. That would be the equivalent of over 7,600 three-axle artic lorries which would have to move by road. In brief, we oppose this proposal as it is deeply flawed on the grounds of: 1. Increased air pollution. 2. Increased noise pollution. 3. Increased flights over a wide area of Surrey. 4. Huge increase in cargo air traffic, hence more lorries along already overcrowded roads. 5. Thousands of new homes in immediate area with new (and as yet unestimated) increases in traffic. 6. Inadequate rail links, with service from Gatwick to Reading (and hence much of the rest of England) woefully inadequate. 7. The project has not been envisaged as a whole and little attention has been paid to the effects of expansion on the wider areas which surround Gatwick. We wish to provide more detail and further comments duing the examination of the application, as specified in your introduction.