Representation by Stephen Lark
- Date submitted
- 24 October 2023
- Submitted by
- Members of the public/businesses
I object to the further development of Gatwick Airport. We live in a rural area of West Kent and already suffer from an excessive amount of noise from Gatwick’s operations from taking off and landing. This includes at night, which makes it very difficult to sleep, especially in summer months when the airport is busier and windows are more likely to be open. The expansion would clearly make this situation worse. The health impact for us cannot be underestimated. The expansion will also clearly lead to a worsening of CO2 emissions and local pollution; both of which run contrary to the government’s objectives. Local infrastructure including roads, rail, medical services, schools etc. are already under considerable pressure in this area of the southeast. This situation would be worsened by the extra demands with expansion. The M25 and M23 are already much too busy and issues on these roads often cause an impact on local roads being used instead. Local housing is already under pressure and any increase in the number of workers at Gatwick would put further pressure on this. This runs contrary to the government’s ‘levelling up’ agenda. The service provided by the airport is consistently unreliable and I don’t believe that there are enough local people who are interested in the low skilled jobs that are generally created by an expansion such as being suggested.