Representation by John Quincey
- Date submitted
- 24 October 2023
- Submitted by
- Members of the public/businesses
I oppose the Gatwick Airport application for a northern runway as it is a new runway. Gatwick currently has one runway and an emergency runway/taxiway, i.e. not two runways that can operate concurrently. What is being proposed now is a new runway through the back door. The Government's decision some time ago was to have an additional runway at Heathrow and not Gatwick. The owners are trying to turn the clock back and re-run the inquiry at which they failed to obtain permission for a second runway. My home is very close to the M25 junction six which is already over capacity. The A22 and A25 are also at their limit and if there is any incident on the M25 or M23 all our local roads come to a standstill. To add the number of passengers and freight predicted for a new Gatwick runway will overwhelm the road system in the surrounding area. All this will further decrease the already poor air quality in our village. The notion that passengers would travel to Gatwick by train is rather a pipe dream as the main line is already stretched and cannot be expanded due to the existing infrastructure. To staff such a development will mean workers traveling from far and wide as there is very low unemployment in the Crawley area thus yet again increasing traffic in our area. There is a shortage of affordable homes in and around Gatwick so any workers will not be able to live locally. In Godstone we are already experiencing a greater amount of aircraft noise over the village. Any expansion at Gatwick will increase the amount of over flying and be detrimental to our quality of life.