Representation by Victor Porter
- Date submitted
- 4 October 2023
- Submitted by
- Members of the public/businesses
The greatly increased number and frequency of low-flying flights arriving over Billingshurst into Gatwick directly overhead of the homes of a dense and rapidly increasing population already impacts adversely on the quality of residents’, pupils’ and workers’ every-day life to an unacceptable degree. Billingshurst includes The Weald Community SecondarySchool, a Primary School and two industrial estates. There is plenty of open countryside immediately to the south and north of Billingshurst through which flights could easily be rerouted at no extra cost to airlines. As well as removing noise pollution and long-term health hazard to the underlying population (which hazard and pollution could potentially become legally actionable against Gatwick and airlines at great expense to them) this would reasonably give due preference, priority and proper consideration to the quality of human life for a relatively large, concentrated number of people rather than to operational flightpaths over sparsely populated areas. if Gatwick’s proposed expansion is approved the impact on the already-reduced quality of life in Billingshurst will be even worse. Even now I believe some flights are at an altitude illegally lower than they should be over Billingshurst and that none is made to take noise-abatement measures. Noise from aircraft disturbs us every single day and night now and current aeroplanes seem to be no quieter than they used to be as is claimed. And there is no longer any justification to designate Gatwick as a 24-hour “charter flight airport”. The vast majority of flights are “scheduled” as they are at Heathrow. I am aware that “normal” flight operations are between 11 p.m. and 6 a.m. but Gatwick is operationally open for 24 hours and there seem to be an increasing number of flights that are allowed to operate outside of these hours. This means that our lawful right to sleep undisturbed is increasingly flouted. Please, please do not approve Gatwick’s “need for greed. Thanks for your consideration Victor Porter