The deadline for registering for a right to have a say/participate in the Gatwick second runway application process is 29 October.
For more info and how to register: click here
Gatwick Airport has submitted a planning application to convert its current emergency runway, the northern runway, into a second operational runway. The application will be examined by a Planning Inspector next year.
The proposals would mean repositioning the runway further north by 12m to meet required safety standards; the expansion of both the North and South terminal buildings; other airport facilities including a replacement waste facility, a new hangar, and new fire training grounds; new office space (9,000m2 floorspace) and 1,000 new hotel rooms over three new hotels; and an additional 18,500 car parking spaces distributed across several new car park areas.
The proposal is considered a nationally significant infrastructure project (NSIP) and, as such, requires a Development Consent Order from the government rather than planning permission from the local planning authority.
Tandridge District Council and nine other District and County authorities affected by the proposal have been working together to understand the airport’s plans and their impact. TDC has also commissioned separate independent advice looking, in particular, at noise and air quality impacts.
The development, although outside of the District area, is very close and has a range of potential impacts including:
* Strategic transportation implications with the need for a strategy covering rail, bus and private car access to an expanded airport which, if not achieved, means more car journeys to the airport and potential congestion on roads around the District.
* Noise from an increased number of aircraft overflying the District’s airspace and its settlements (such as Lingfield, Smallfield and Horne).
* Increased risk of flooding, for example that surface water from the airport will be drained into the District’s rivers and streams.
* Economically, particularly in respect of increased employment opportunities.
* Increased demand for housing local to the expanded airport.
* Pressure for expanded off-airport car parking development.
