Reigate MP, Crispin Blunt, today appealed for local people to make their voices heard over Gatwick expansion, as the Airports Commission prepares to close its public consultation on 3rd February 2015.
To highlight the importance of responding to the consultation, the MP today published 15 reasons why Gatwick is obviously not the right choice for expansion.
1. Expansion is opposed by thousands that Gatwick chooses to ignore: The views of thousands of people have been rejected without rhyme or reason by Gatwick's so-called 'public consultation'. Responses from 4,000 supporters of the Woodland Trust were discounted by the airport as repetitive, instead of being rightly viewed as strength of feeling against expansion. Despite the airport's protestations of local support, both Kent and West Sussex County Councils are the latest to vote against it.
2. Three times more people will be subjected to noise: Up to 30,000 people will be impacted by noise. With two aircraft expected to take off or land every minute, and no plans to provide respite by alternating arrivals and departures on the runways, house values will fall and people will be trapped in unbearable conditions, unable to move without serious financial loss.
3. As well as gridlock on our roads: A second runway means another 100,000 vehicles on our roads every day, without accounting for the lorries needed to transport the proposed 'million tonnes of freight'. With no new improvements planned to help meet this demand, the M25 and M23 will become 'car parks' and smaller local villages and roads will be pushed beyond their limits by the overspill.
4. It will be the final blow for our already fragile transport system: Gatwick is served only by a single rail and road connection and is already dangerously vulnerable to disruption. This single rail connection will be forced to accommodate an extra 90,000 daily rail journeys when Gatwick reaches full capacity on both runways, with no new investment planned. Even with no new runway, Network Rail forecast passengers on the Brighton main line will rise by almost a third in the decade to 2020.
5. For local people, it is an Olympic-scale disaster: 60,000 more people will be needed to fill the mostly low-skilled jobs created by expansion. The local area will suffer Olympic-scale migration, without the new infrastructure to go with it. No consideration has been given to where these people will come from, where they will live and the pressure they will place on local services already struggling to meet demand, including housing, schools, GPs and hospitals.
6. There will be spades in our green belt: Up to 45,000 new houses will be needed, equivalent to a new town the size of Crawley. It is suggested that this mass building programme be met by local authorities from Croydon to Worthing, including those within the Green Belt and others, such as Crawley, with 3,000 already on the housing waiting list and no space left to build.
7. It will leave an irrevocable scar on the landscape: Today Gatwick is surrounded on three sides by Areas of Outstanding Natural Beauty. Tomorrow, 70 hectares of precious woodland could be sacrificed to make way for bricks, mortar and tarmac. According to the Airports Commission, the associated flood risk may remain unknown until 'the airport was operational', by which time it will be all too late. Additional noise will lay ruin to one of the most tranquil parts of the British countryside for everyone.
8. We will regret surrendering our history: In the largest destruction of our heritage since the blitz, 19 listed buildings would be lost forever, including 5 that are Grade 2* and have a rightful place among the top 6% most important buildings in Britain.
9. There will be higher fares for passengers: To pay for a second runway, passenger charges at Gatwick will rise and could more than double. Faced with higher charges of up to £28 more for a return flight on supposedly low cost routes, it is unclear whether passengers and airlines will be able to afford an expanded Gatwick at all.
10. The proposals are ill-conceived and will have significant hidden costs: It is beyond reason to believe that no new infrastructure improvements will be needed and disingenuous to claim the economic benefit of a new runway at full capacity, while quoting the road and rail impact of one operating at less than half. Extra traffic on local roads will require many traffic engineering schemes, putting substantial extra cost on West Sussex, East Sussex and Surrey County Councils, and ultimately local taxpayers.
11. The 'price isn't right' and there's no-one to fund it: Before a spade has even hit the ground, the cost of expansion has leapt by a quarter from £7.4bn to £9.3bn, according to estimates. Moreover, leading ratings agency Moody's considers the scheme to have high financial risks, and a question remarks remain over whether Gatwick's principle shareholder will be around to see it through, given their policy of only investing in assets - such as the airport - for a ten year period.
12. It is the only option that doesn't answer the question: Heathrow has been full for a decade, but Gatwick has secured virtually no long haul connections to the new economic powerhouses of Brazil and India, and not a single route to China. The airport's year on year failure to attract airlines for these routes provides irrefutable evidence that expansion at Gatwick would be a white elephant and actively damage Britain's ability to compete in the global economy.
13. And an opportunity lost: At its peak, the economic benefit estimated as a result of expanding Gatwick is almost £100bn less than the potential at Heathrow. Even accepting the lowest estimates, Heathrow continues to deliver in excess of £112bn compared with £42bn at Gatwick – that's £70bn more in national growth and prosperity than Gatwick, figures no-one can afford to ignore.
14. It is bad for business: Expansion would create many problems for local firms. Almost 300 will have to move premises as buildings are demolished to make way for a new runway. Others will suffer labour shortages, higher costs, traffic congestion and the impact of noise on rural businesses. And all for no gain. Gatwick can't deliver the volume of routes to emerging markets that are critical for Britain to compete in the world economy.
15. And finally, as they say, all that glitters...: Gatwick's lavish promises of support for those affected are not all they would have us believe. In fact, the offer of £1,000 a year to those living in the 57 Leq contour, for example, would be worth less than the compensation to which home owners would be legally entitled under the Land Compensation Act.
Following the consultation, the Commission will be recommending to the next Government the location of the UK's next runway, having assessed three shortlisted options, including one at Gatwick and two at Heathrow.
Crispin Blunt commented "The Gatwick Coordination Group is preparing its formal submission to the Davies Commission. If you are as worried as we are about the consequences for our local area, and the country, if Gatwick is chosen, please reinforce our case by responding too. The consultation closes Tuesday 3rd February, and you can put your point of view forward. Even a brief, pithy response will be welcome! You can email the Airports Commission directly at airports.consultation@systra.com "