Eastbourne councillors seek more environmental evidence on Gatwick Airport's Northern Runway plans

Eastbourne councillors are to seek further information on the environmental impact of a second runway at Gatwick Airport.
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On Wednesday (July 20), Eastbourne Borough Council debated a motion from Conservative group leader Robert Smart, which called on the authority to reaffirm its support for opening the airport’s emergency runway full time.

The council had previously expressed support for a second runway back in 2013.

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Cllr Smart said: “The South East of England must remain internationally competitive, with adequate infrastructure and connectivity. Eastbourne has great opportunities with such connectivities provided; it enhances its international tourism offer and particularly its conference sector with the Welcome Building.

A plane at Gatwick (Pic by S Robards)A plane at Gatwick (Pic by S Robards)
A plane at Gatwick (Pic by S Robards)

“Clearly there needs to be a balance between the economy and the environment. The aviation sector has made huge technological strides on the environment. The aircraft are much less noisy, but on carbon they continue to improve.

Gatwick Airport itself was the first London airport to be carbon neutral in 2017, excluding aircraft fuel. It is committed to being carbon neutral including fuel by 2040 — ten years ahead of the national target.”

These claims around carbon neutrality — which had also been included in the written version of the motion — saw scepticism from several councillors. With this in mind, Liberal Democrat cabinet member Colin Swansborough proposed an amended motion to replace Cllr Smart’s proposal.

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This amended motion called on the council’s scrutiny committee to examine the airport’s carbon claims and report back before any further vote. It also noted that the council had itself pledged to be carbon neutral by 2030.

Cllr Swansborough said: “We supported the second runaway in 2013, but since then we have passed a carbon neutral motion. It says something about our realisation that we really can’t go on like this.

“We really can’t go on adding lumps of adverse technology in pursuit of more and more money at the expense of the planet. We all know that air travel is having a significant adverse effect [and] it is not going to get any better by putting more aeroplanes up there.”

Cllr Swansborough also took issue with another part of Cllr Smart’s motion, this being claims that a second runway would bring another £1.5 billion to the regional economy each year and create 18,400 new jobs.

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He added: “Given the criticisms of the way in which Gatwick’s submissions were compiled originally, we would like to have a further study of what this data means rather than just accept numbers thrown at us in the middle of a council meeting.”

Despite some criticism, Cllr Smart said he would welcome the council’s scrutiny committee looking into Gatwick’s proposals. However, he said his group would abstain from voting for the amendment as it would prevent a vote on the original motion.

This also saw criticism from Conservative councillor Colin Belsey (Ratton), who said: “It wasn’t an amendment. An amendment is when you change one or two words within a motion. It is not to ignore one and put another one in.

“I really do feel we are losing democracy in this chamber, because it is being ruled over. We are just being ignored.”

In response, officers confirmed that the Lib Dem proposal was a valid amendment.

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