Representation by Helen Reeves
- Date submitted
- 14 October 2023
- Submitted by
- Members of the public/businesses
• I am strongly opposed to the 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 therefore it is a new runway which is being proposed to be constructed. Gatwick is attempting to slip this through the back door by presenting a false equivalence between the present limited emergency use and that of a fully operational second runway. There is no such equivalence. • The proposed development will lead to a substantial increase in aircraft noise with evidence of an additional 101,000 flights a year to a cap of 386,000 which is unacceptable for us local residents. • There is already a shortage of affordable housing locally. Thus, workers will not be able to walk or cycle to work in the way the application proposes. There is also a lack of local amenities. • The volatile nature of the airport’s leisure business means that there will be little job security for low skilled workers that it is claimed the development would provide. • Gatwick sits on a single main road, the M23 which is deemed an unsafe smart road. The proposed development will add to the amount of freight and numbers of passengers and workers using the motorway leading to a substantial increase in congestion both on it and the local road network with which it connects and a significant deterioration in local air quality. • Rail connectivity to the airport is provided by the Brighton Main Line, which cannot be expanded. Gatwick seeks to add an unacceptable burden to the line of more than 32 million extra passengers. • The proposed NEW RUNWAY would add a significant quantity of carbon and greenhouse gases into the environment in conflict with evidence and recommendations presented by the Climate Change Committee – (Evidence CCC (2020) The Sixth Carbon Budget – Methodology Report. Available at: www.theccc.org.uk ) As you can see from these points, Gatwick should not be allowed to create this NEW runway.