Yesterday I was given the opportunity, alongside other MPs, to speak at the Hearing for an order to grant development consent for the Gatwick Airport Northern Runway Project, Gatwick’s second runway. This has been a contentious proposal for several years. When I was Chair of the Gatwick Coordination Group – an action group of local representatives and civil society against the expansion of Gatwick Airport formed in 2014 – I led the opposition to plans for a second runway at Gatwick.
In October 2016, I welcomed the decision made by Government to implement the recommendation of the independent Airports Commission for a new runway at Heathrow. It was at the time, and is still today, the best airport to serve as a national and international aviation hub, not least because it is well-served by a number of train lines and transport links and an extensive local labour force is at hand.
A new runway at Gatwick will overwhelm the already overburdened transport infrastructure and will require thousands of workers to move into the region, putting further strain on local infrastructure and housing. It will also yield far less economic gain for the country as a whole.
Gatwick is served by only a single major road (the M23, well-known as an unsafe smart road, and the A23) and hangs off one railway line that can’t be expanded. The station is already new and it was not designed for an additional over 32m passengers. The most obvious risk of only having one railway line connecting what could be such a large airport is that if anything goes wrong on it, the impact on local roads and delays to passengers would be huge. Gatwick has tried to model the impact of its expansion on the roads, but their modelling does not tackle junctions and the increase of traffic at them, with the increase in passenger numbers anticipated at what is already busy peak times (e.g., 6am-7am). It also doesn't address the increases in vehicle movements from passengers, workers, and freight at junctions which would cause serious issues for other organisations, businesses, Surrey and Surrey and Sussex Healthcare NHS Trust and local authorities.
Expanding the airport would create an additional 40,000 jobs in an area where unemployment is already low. These workers would thus need to move into the area from elsewhere resulting in a need of approximately 100,000 new homes to house them and their families. Housing in the borough is already at maximum capacity and planning permission to meet existing demands would have disastrous consequences for the Green Belt as well as put unbearable additional pressure on stretched services and infrastructure.
This is why today I spoke against the second runway and expansion of Gatwick Airport at the open hearing alongside a number of other MPs from the local area. I will continue to oppose these plans on behalf of local residents and I hope Planning Inspectorate do the right thing by the area and country. There already exists a much better and ready to implement alternative.