Representation by Bryan Scurfield
- Date submitted
- 26 October 2023
- Submitted by
- Members of the public/businesses
We live 8 miles from Gatwick but also directly under the flight path which takes planes leaving Gatwick to go east (when the runway is operating in the normal east-west direction for take-off). We will therefore suffer significantly more noise, on top of existing blight we already suffer. For example, at 6am (and frequently before this), there is a noisy rush of traffic which wakes us and a last minute rush at 11pm which stops us going to sleep. As the air traffic above our area is already very conjected due to both Heathrow and Gatwick and so cannot be spread out geographically, we believe that Gatwick is not the right place to introduce further capacity, even if this is necessary. Any additional capacity should be sought away from the congested and busy south east, particularly away from the area directly between London and the south coast. We would also question the projected expansion of demand for air travel on which the application is justified by the applicant. This appears to be based on historic rates of growth during years through which competition has forced ticket prices to levels which are already hardly sustainable. It would also seem that the need for pollution free aircraft is likely to increase costs significantly, not reduce them too even more un-economic levels. How can further levels of air travel be justified when it is to the detriment of those living near airports and to the world environment.