London Gatwick: Campaign groups have their say as airport prepares to submit Northern runway plans

The plans include the development of supporting infrastructure and facilities including road improvements, the realignment of the existing Northern Runway, a new Pier (aircraft stands), additional parking and hotels and improvements to the existing terminal buildings.

The consultation first started in September 2021 and after feedback they are now ready to submit the planning application.

But local campaign groups say they will continue to fight the plans and claim Gatwick are trying to get a second runway ‘through the back door’. They are concerned about the negative impact on communities in terms or carbon emissions and noise with the increased amount of flights and passenger footfall.

Gatwick say they are mitigating the environmental impact with new zero carbon technologies which will also help with the noise. They also say the plans will help boost the local economy and create in excess of 18,000 new jobs. This week the government's own advisors, the Climate Change Committee (CCC) published once again their warning on airport expansion and commenting on this latest announcement by the CCC, which is directly relevant to this plan for airport expansion.

SEE ALSO London Gatwick Airport: expansion plans to generate more than 600 local construction jobs in Crawley, Mid Sussex, Horsham, and Reigate and Banstead among other areas | Gatwick Airport northern runway: Plans include separating local traffic on M23 but ‘will not disrupt a single residential body’ says airport's development director | Gatwick Airport Northern Runway: How the environmental impact of more passengers and more flights will be mitigated

The Gatwick Area Conservation Campaign (GACC) say there is ‘no conceivable justification for the increased carbon emissions that would arise from expanding Gatwick, for which not mitigation realistically exists’.

GACC’s chairman Peter Barclay said: “No more airport expansion plans, including this application from Gatwick, should be considered by Government until there is a UK-wide capacity management framework for aviation in place. Adding Gatwick to the long list of UK airports permitted to grow runs counter to the government's independent Committee on Climate Change latest advice that there should be no net airport expansion across the UK.

He added: “We are calling on residents and campaigners to join GACC in formally challenging Gatwick Airport’s attempt to blindly steamroller in with its devastating expansion plans, flying in the face of the huge climate cost of aviation, and glossing over its unacceptable noise and other local impacts.”

Communities Against Gatwick Noise and Emissions (CAGNE) claim Gatwick will be getting a ‘second runway through the back door’ if the plans go ahead. A CAGNE spokesperson said: “Sadly, Gatwick Airport only ever offer residents half-truths when it comes to expansion plans, and it falls to our community and environment group to fill in the facts and stop this disastrous environmental catastrophe from happening which will impact our planet and residents in Sussex, Surrey, and Kent.

“Gatwick has always struggled to find workers, and with automation of both the airport and the aviation industry, new jobs do not necessarily come with expansion. We have seen, time and time again, the lack of job-security due to the business model of the airport, providing low-cost flights predominantly to Europe. Long-haul flights seem to come and go, mostly according to whether Heathrow has slots available.

“With the current cost-of-living crisis, the fact that greener fuels will cost some 3-5 times more than fossil fuel could hit Gatwick the hardest again, with a subsequent impact on jobs, as we saw with Covid and the last recession.

“We are all facing a climate emergency, and many have now decided not to fly because they are aware of what flying is doing to the climate, aviation being one of the biggest threats our planet faces. No responsible owners of an airport should therefore be seeking expansion at this time, especially as a second runway would add over 1m tonnes* of extra carbon emissions a year, on top of that already produced from the main runway.

“Because they are rebuilding the emergency runway rather than building a brand new one, it doesn’t have to go through the normal national infrastructure planning process. This means that Gatwick gets a second runway by the back door, offering few benefits for surrounding communities, or the environment. Nearly 100,000 extra flights a year are proposed, with a huge increase in freight lorry movements to and from the airport, as well as transport of drop-in greener fuels (as there is no storage infrastructure at the airport).

“As academic studies showed through COVID, when Gatwick Airport is grounded, the air quality improves, as does the wellbeing of residents when they don’t have the noise of flights day and night.”You can read more about Gatwick Airport’s plans and keep up-to-date with when the plans are submitted at at SussexWorld.co.uk.