Representation by Mr Robin Maher
- Date submitted
- 21 October 2023
- Submitted by
- Members of the public/businesses
• The policy has been misinterpreted by the applicant as this is an application for a new runway and as such does not comply with policy, or the Government’s Aviation Strategy. Gatwick does not have 2 runways that it can operate concurrently today and as such it is a new runway being constructed. • Increase in aircraft noise – even now we cannot enjoy our outside spaces, especially in the summer time so the additional 101,000 flights a year to a cap of 386,000 will blight the area even more. • Lack of affordable housing locally to enable workers to walk or cycle to work as the applicant proposes. Lack of amenities and infrastructure for proposed housing • Low skilled jobs are offered with little job security due to the volatile nature of the airport’s leisure business and Gatwicks stated objective to automate systems to reduce staff/increase efficiency. • Gatwick sits on a single main road, the M23 which is deemed an unsafe smart road. The huge increase in freight, passengers and workers will cause a significant increase in congestion on the M23 and related routes to/from the airport including spillover into residential roads. This will lead to an an inevitable decline in air quality. • The airport sits on the Brighton Main Line, which can’t be expanded. Gatwick seeks to add an unacceptable burden to the line with over 32m extra passengers. We face a climate emergency, and a new runway would add a significant amount of carbon and greenhouse gases