Representation by Alyson Gilbert-Smith MSc, BSc, Lic. RTPI
- Date submitted
- 8 November 2023
- Submitted by
- Members of the public/businesses
I vehemently oppose this Gatwick Airport application for a northern runway because it is a new runway – Policy has been misinterpreted by the applicant as this is an application for a new runway which does not comply with stated policy, Government’s Aviation Strategy. Gatwick does not have 2 ‘existing’ runways that it can operate concurrently today so as such it is a new runway being constructed at night. There will be an unbearable increase in aircraft noise – evidenced by an additional 101,000 flights a year to a cap of 386,000. There will be a further decline in air quality as Gatwick ignores the far-reaching impact of road and air emissions created by its operations. There is a severe lack of affordable housing locally to enable workers to walk or cycle to work as the applicant proposes with an overburdening of amenities including GPs, hospitals, and schools already under pressure and physically crumbling in plain sight. Low skilled jobs will be offered with little job security and zero-hour contracts which ensure that employees will be unable to satisfy an mortgage loan requirements or rental agreements - all due to the volatile nature of the airport’s leisure business. Gatwick sits on a single main road, 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, additional and further decline in air quality. The airport sits on the Brighton Main Train Line, which can’t be expanded. Gatwick seeks to add an unacceptable burden to the line with over 32m extra passengers and luggage. We face a climate emergency, and a new runway would add a significant amount of carbon and greenhouse gases – Evidence CCC (2020) The Sixth Carbon Budget – Methodology Report. Available at: www.theccc.org.uk Potential for flooding and sewage entering the river system again travelling to the River Arun.