London Gatwick: Campaign group says airport ‘must pay to provide the public transport required’ if runway plans go ahead

A decision on Gatwick’s application for it’s expansion plans were delayed by Transport Secretary Heidi Alexander – who said the Government was ‘minded to approve’ plans for a second runway – giving the airport until April 24 to respond to demands for it to include measures, such as noise mitigation and having a proportion of passengers travelling to the airport via public transport, in its overall plans before a final decision will be made in October.

CAGNE (Communities Against Gatwick Noise Emissions) has campaigned against the plans from the beginning and have raised more concerns about how Gatwick will tackle and pay for the public transport issue.

In their latest statement they said: “Network Rail’s submissions to the new runway Planning Inspectorate suggested that Gatwick Airport’s new railway station (costing taxpayers £200m) may not be able to cope with the millions of additional passengers (32m according to Gatwick Airport submissions) it will be faced with, if a new runway is awarded by the Secretary of State for Transport on October 27th. “The lack of public transport has always been Gatwick’s Achilles heel, and nothing has changed. If anything, it is getting worse with more houses being built in the area and no public transport investment.

"If Gatwick wants this new runway (end of 2024 profits £342.9m), then they must pay to provide the public transport required, starting with meeting the cost for the rail junction improvements at East Croydon, as well as buses that run throughout the night to the rural communities where workers come from – not just Crawley.”

A London Gatwick spokesperson said: “London Gatwick has been investing significantly to increase public transport use among passengers over many years, and we are committed to going further.

"Recent investments include £50+ million for our redeveloped train station, part-funding more than 60 zero-emission hydrogen buses, and £600,000 towards supporting local public buses across the region last year (2024) alone. This year we are investing a further £1m in local bus services.

"We’ve also recently funded the doubling of the GWR Gatwick - Reading train service, further boosting connectivity across the region, and worked with Network Rail on the strategic business case for a direct rail service to Kent.”

But CAGNE raised other issues such as the Brighton Main Line (railway) which they said needs investment and claimed: “It will not change the fact that the line can’t be expanded, with no chance of double-decker trains. This therefore restricts the number of carriages and trains it can carry. This also rules out freight trains, despite the fact that, with a new runway, Gatwick predicts a major increase in cargo to 350,000 tones a year by 2047.”

They added: “The East Croydon Windmill Junction lacks funding, which would go some way to ease the junction limitations, along with reducing bottleneck issues – but, again, would not increase capacity of the line as a whole.” CAGNE also said: “Gatwick argue that they do not control the scheduling of the line or trains but, with the Gatwick Express being expensive (over £34 return) and the commuter trains being full of commuters when they reach the airport, it seems impossible for the management of Gatwick to meet the restrictions proposed by the Planning Inspectorate without significant funding by the airport shareholders. Gatwick has until 24th April to respond to the government on how they will overcome and meet the requirement of “54% mode share by public transport.” CAGNE said its legal and qualified expert team will respond to Gatwick Airport’s response in April, adding: “Ensuring that communities and the planet have a voice, and that the bill does not fall to the taxpayer or the planet to meet the ramifications of a new runway.”