Gatwick Runway Exhibitions a huge success – for the opposition!

Gatwick Airport Ltd have held 15 exhibitions to explain their runway proposals  to the public. Over 6,000 people in total will have attended but, according to local community group, GACC, some 75-80%  of those visiting the exhibitions were opposed to any new runway.  GACC volunteers manned a ‘picket line’ outside each exhibition, handing out leaflets and car stickers, and recruiting new members.  According the GACC chairman Brendon Sewill, “people were coming out of the hall horrified at what they had seen, and queuing up to join GACC.”  People were frustrated by the lack of key information on aspects of the plans, such as noise and supporting infrastructure.  At Edenbridge the highly respected and respectable MP for Tonbridge, Sir John Stanley, organised a mass demonstration against aircraft noise and against any new runway.  At Horsham around 200 people marched through the town to protest at the new flight path over Warnham and north Horsham, and to oppose any new runway.  The Gatwick exhibitions have been helpful, in that they have alerted the public and have demonstrated the strength of feeling against the proposals. 
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Gatwick Runway Exhibitions a huge success – for the opposition!

 

5.5.2014 ( GACC – Gatwick Area Conservation Campaign)

Gatwick Airport Ltd have held 15 exhibitions to explain their runway proposals, and the final one will be at Copthorne on Tuesday 6 May.  Over 6,000 people in total have attended but, according to GACC, some 75-80% were opposed to any new runway.

GACC volunteers have manned a ‘picket line’ outside each exhibition, handing out leaflets and car stickers, and recruiting new members.  According the GACC chairman Brendon Sewill, ‘people were coming out of the hall horrified at what they had seen, and queuing up to join GACC.

At Edenbridge the highly respected and respectable MP for Tonbridge, Sir John Stanley, organised a mass demonstration against aircraft noise and against any new runway.  At Horsham around 200 people marched through the town to protest at the new flight path over Warnham and north Horsham, and to oppose any new runway.

 

Typical comments from the public were :–

  • ‘I just had not realised how huge it would be.’
  • ‘We don’t need the extra jobs here, they should be up North.’
  • ‘They won’t tell us where the new flight paths would be.’
  • ‘Its horrific.’
  • ‘The roads would be hell.’
  • ‘Its all spin, they don’t tell you the real facts.’
  • ‘The hospitals and doctors can’t cope at present, what will it be like with all this?

 

GACC considered the exhibitions unsatisfactory because:

1. they were designed to sell the project, not to explain the impact;

2. there was no clear explanation of how the noise would increase;

3. there was no indication of how the infrastructure  (roads, rail), housing, hospitals, schools etc. would be able to cope with an enlarged airport;

4. a false choice was presented between three runway options, with no
easy way to register a vote for no new runway.

 

Nevertheless GACC feel that the exhibitions have alerted the public and have demonstrated the strength of feeling against the proposals. At all the exhibitions GACC volunteers maintained a friendly relationship with the airport staff, and GACC is grateful to Gatwick for often allowing us to use the lobby of the hall where the exhibition was held.

 www .gacc.org.uk

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Some 200  CAGNE and GACC members and supporters walk from the Carfax in Horsham, to the Drill Hall, where the Gatwick airport exhibition event was being held,  in demonstration against  the Gatwick Expansion proposal & flight path trials – 2nd May Flight Path Trials

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