Representation by Nicola Bandy
- Date submitted
- 18 October 2023
- Submitted by
- Members of the public/businesses
I severely oppose the Gatwick Airport application for a northern runway. I understand that this is actually a new runway and that does not comply with the Government’s policy and Gatwick does not have 2 runways that it can operate concurrently at present. According to Gatwick's own data in theory we are not under their flight paths, yet in its present working state we are getting routine day and night flights directly overhead with huge accompanying noise - Gatwick already appear to be able to flout their own data with no recourse. On challenging Gatwick we were told it is due to the Ukraine war and lack of airspace, so an increase in aircraft noise – evidence of an additional 101,000 flights a year to a cap of 386,000 would be unbearable. There is already lack of affordable housing and amenities locally to enable workers to walk or cycle to work, as the applicant proposes, and will no doubt have to use 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, yet potentially may have over 32m extra passengers. However, the most important and blatantly ignored issue, which is absolutely unacceptable is the fact we face a climate emergency and a new runway would add a significant amount of carbon and greenhouse gases.