Gatwick Airport runway inquiry hears from businesses and locals

Gatwick wants to make routine use of its emergency runway

The inquiry into Gatwick Airport's plan to use its emergency runway for routine flights has heard from business groups in favour and local people opposed to the scheme.

Chambers of commerce from Sussex, Surrey and Kent argued it would bring hundreds of millions to the area's economy.

Local people highlighted the disruption flights already bring to their lives.

The inquiry being held in Crawley is due to last six months.

Anna Christie, the chief executive of the Sussex Chamber of Commerce who was also speaking on behalf of the Surrey chamber, told the hearing "future development will continue to support growth and jobs".

She said the chamber would act as a "critical friend" to the airport over its environmental impact.

Richard Lavender, from the Kent Invicta Chamber of Commerce, also fully supported the expansion plan, saying it would "improve the resilience of air traffic in the South East" with "quieter, more efficient and greener aircraft".

Gavin Stewart, the executive director of the Brighton and Hove Economic Partnership, said the extra passengers the expansion would bring could represent an extra £630m being spent by tourists.

And Charlie Cooper, the operations manager at a local building firm which is a contractor at Gatwick Airport, described the proposed growth as "simply a no-brainer, the benefits will outweigh the negatives".

"These plans give us the confidence to invest and develop," he said.

Local people say they fear noise and disruption will increase if the plan is allowed

Jane Shufflebotham, who lives near the airport, said she was "passionately and wholeheartedly against this plan", which she said would be "profoundly damaging to the environment".

She said: "It's not just a bad idea, but an environmental catastrophe in the making... a decision based on pure greed."

Another local resident, Patricia Routledge, said even now people living near Gatwick could not open their windows or enjoy their gardens in the summer.

"If Gatwick has its way, this hell will increase," she told the hearing.

"No consideration is being given to those living beneath the flight path. It's a cheap, inadequate fix for Gatwick."

And Dr Roger Hood, who lives in the village of Capel, 5 miles (8km) west of the airport, questioned the economic need for its expansion.

"London already has five international airports," he said.

Responding to the issues raised on Wednesday, John Rhodes from Gatwick Airport said: "Gatwick Airport really does take its environmental responsibilities very seriously."

In terms of its ground operations he said the airport had put forward a carbon action plan which it was hoped would make the airport achieve net zero by 2030, a plan which would happen regardless of whether the northern runway wins approval.

He also assured those concerned with night flights that the new runway would not be used between 23:00 GMT and 06:00 except in emergencies.

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