Gatwick Airport has come under fire from campaigners who say it is trying to open “a new runway on the cheap”.
Communities Against Gatwick Noise Emissions (CAGNE) argues the West Sussex airport’s plans fail to address crucial issues like noise pollution, surface transport, housing needs, and wastewater treatment. The group has threatened to push for a judicial reviewif Transport Secretary Heidi Alexander approves the project.
Gatwick’s proposal aims to bring its standby runway into regular operation for smaller aircraft take-offs, boosting the airport’s yearly flight capacity by 100,000.
The £2.2 billion privately-funded project includes shifting the existing runway 12 metres, expanding both terminals, adding new aircraft gates, and improving road access.
The Transport Secretary faces a 27 February deadline to decide on Gatwick’s application for a development consent order.
Sally Pavey, 59, who chairs Cagne, claimed there are “many holes in the submissions made by Gatwick”.
She said: “This is a new runway on the cheap.
“There are so many things that haven’t been confirmed or finalised.
“The Secretary of State would be very unwise to actually approve it, because it’s going to cost the local authorities dearly as they’ll have to pay for the ramifications.”
Ms Pavey said Gatwick has provided “very little reassurance” about the impact of expansion on noise, while she described the major transport links to the airport as a “single railway line and a single road which can’t be expanded without major investment”.
She questioned “where is the affordable housing?” that would be needed with an increase in the airport’s workforce, and called for a wastewater treatment plant to be built on-site as existing facilities in the area have “very limited capacity”.
Gatwick insisted “full and thorough assessments” of these issues have been carried out.
Ms Pavey also expressed doubts over the UK’s ability to meet its carbon reduction obligations and grow the economy if Gatwick is expanded.
She said: “Why would you spend some of your really valuable carbon budget on building another bucket and spade runway that exports sterling on cheap flights overseas?
“(The extra passengers would) spend money out of the country,…
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