Chancellor set to announce approval of a new runway at Gatwick Airport. If the news stories are to be believed in Reuters, Financial Times and The Times.
CAGNE statement -
It is disgraceful of this government to ignore public opinion and all the facts that this is a new runway and not compliant to the policy being used by the airport to achieve a new runway by stealth. The Airport Commission found that there was only the need for one runway in the SouthEast and it was not at Gatwick Airport.
If this story is true it opens the door to us communities concerned about the decline in our wellbeing to benefit the shareholders of Gatwick Airport. Any airport expansion shows a lack of understanding and priority placed by this government towards global warming and yet we see the signs constantly on the news of flooding, fires and rising temperatures. Aviation is one of the biggest polluters this planet suffers and yet a new runway would add 1 1/2 m tonnes of extra carbon a year plus greenhouse gases, and there are no true decarbonising factors that will reduce this as with more planes comes more CO2 and noise.
CAGNE has been at the forefront of opposing this new runway due to the lack of infrastructure, lack of workers, decline in air quality and unbelievable increase in noise as Gatwick would be as big as Heathrow today.
Gatwick already has serious issues with noise and yet we were not allowed to include the modernisation of airspace that Gatwick is reliant upon to reach its economic growth goals with two runway operation. This is just one of the reasons we will be legally challenging a decision to allow a new runway at Gatwick. We have already started to fundraise to legally challenge a decision to allow 2 runway operations at Gatwick as there were so many flaws in the evidence provided by Gatwick at the DCO hearings, this news story, if factual, is just another reason to challenge a new runway decision.