Gatwick hoping its “pledge” of £46.5 million if it gets 2nd runway will go towards a new Crawley hospital

24/07/2014

• New report unveils how Gatwick will ‘Connect Britain to the Future. Faster’ along with a series of new local schemes unmatched by Heathrow
• Following public consultation, Gatwick pledges new funds for local jobs, housing & infrastructure, and increased support for residents & businesses
• Local pledges are in addition to the UK-wide £90bn economic boost and around 120,000 jobs a Gatwick second runway would deliver

Gatwick Airport has announced a comprehensive series of new pledges to ensure local communities directly benefit from the huge economic boosts a second runway would deliver to the UK. Gatwick has challenged Heathrow to match the local pledges, many of which do not currently feature in Heathrow’s own expansion plans.

The pledges form part of a new document released by Gatwick Airport today – Connecting Britain to the Future. Faster– which summarises Gatwick’s compelling case for a second runway. The document outlines how Gatwick expansion could be delivered quicker, to more global destinations, and with greater economic benefits including around 120,000 jobs and a £90bn boost to the UK.

In addition to the UK-wide benefits, the document unveils a series of new pledges to help minimise the impacts and maximise the benefits for local communities. The local pledges follow Gatwick’s public consultation held throughout April and May and have been designed to address the areas that matter most to the local community, including jobs, housing, noise and transport. The pledges include:

• £46.5m to help local authorities deliver essential community infrastructure

• A £3.75m fund to help create 2,500 new apprenticeships for local people

• A series of noise initiatives including £45m for Gatwick’s unique council tax initiative and £5m for noise insulation measures

• Improvements to local transport links and a commitment to ensure local roads are no busier than they are today, with a £10m local highway development fund in place to meet any additional works

• For the small number of homes that would need to be compulsorily purchased, a £131m Property Support Bond will offer homeowners 25% above market value, significantly above statutory requirements

• A new Engagement Charter to help local landowners & businesses affected by Gatwick expansion

Gatwick CEO Stewart Wingate said: “A second runway would create a £90billion boost to the UK. We are determined to be a good neighbour and not lose sight of the concerns of those communities close to home.

“We’ve listened to local people and have created a wide range of pledges to deliver improvements in many of the areas that matter to them most, from new jobs and housing, to business support and noise mitigation.

“These pledges will help Gatwick deliver on its promises to the local community and we challenge Heathrow to match our comprehensive local commitments in their own expansion plans.”

The series of new local pledges announced today are made up of:

HOUSING AND INFRASTRUCTURE PLEDGE

£46.5m to help local authorities deliver essential community infrastructure

Public consultation showed that local people wanted to know more about the numbers of new homes a second runway at Gatwick would create and how existing infrastructure such as schools and hospitals would cope with further development. Gatwick has responded by creating a new housing and infrastructure pledge:

• A second runway is expected to support up to 9,300 new homes; to support the new homes and existing local communities, Gatwick will provide funds to local authorities to help them deliver a range of local infrastructure improvements
• The £46.5m scheme will provide local authorities with £5,000 per new house built to help fund local infrastructure improvements
• The infrastructure improvements will depend on the needs of each local area but will contribute towards investment in local community facilities
• Gatwick will consult with local authorities to create and deliver the scheme

JOBS & APPRENTICESHIP PLEDGE

A £3.75m fund to help create 2,500 new apprenticeships for local young people

Public consultation highlighted concerns that new jobs created by Gatwick expansion would not directly benefit the local area. Gatwick has responded to this by creating a Jobs & Apprenticeship pledge:

• Gatwick expansion will create around 120,000 jobs. To ensure local young people directly benefit from the new jobs being created, Gatwick will establish a new £3.75m apprenticeship fund
• The fund will help airport employers and local companies create 2,500 new job opportunities for local young people – a grant of £1,500 will be given to cover the start-up costs of each new apprenticeship created
• Successful students will be selected from across the South-East region – with a range of possible apprenticeships, not only in airport-related jobs or industries
• Gatwick will partner and consult with airport employers, local councils and key colleges to create and deliver the scheme

HOMEOWNER PLEDGE

Increased compensation funds for those homeowners most affected by expansion

Some residential properties would need to be purchased to provide space for an expanded Gatwick (though considerably less homes than in Heathrow’s plans). A series of funds will be set-up to ensure these homeowners receive fair compensation over and above statutory requirements:

• For those homes that need to be compulsorily purchased, a Property Market Support Bond fund of £131m will offer owners 25% above market value for their properties
• These payments are significantly above what Gatwick is statutorily required to offer home-owners –compensation is typically offered at a minimum of 10% above market rates
• In addition, there is a £14m Home Owners Support Scheme to buy any homes that would be subject to high levels of aircraft noise – above a set noise level – under the new plans

BUSINESSES AND LOCAL LANDOWNER PLEDGE

New Engagement Charter & dedicated team to help landowners & businesses

While the expansion of Gatwick would create many thousands of local jobs and business opportunities, existing local landowners and businesses want to know more about how they will be affected. Gatwick will create a new Engagement Charter and a dedicated team to help local landowners and businesses:

• The new Engagement Charter sets out how Gatwick will engage, support and compensate affected businesses and landowners
• Measures include setting up a dedicated helpline, website and newsletter to keep local businesses up-to-date, as well as assigning a team of Case Managers to work directly with affected landowners and businesses
• For those properties which Gatwick needs to purchase, Gatwick will engage with all parties as early as possible to reach agreement on the purchase
• Gatwick will then continue to support and work with each party to agree compensation measures at an early stage and to help facilitate their replacement property search wherever possible.

NOISE MITIGATION PLEDGE

Unique initiatives form an industry leading approach to noise

Local people understandably raised the issue of noise created by a second runway and the impact it would have on their property. To address these concerns, Gatwick will continue its industry-leading approach to noise mitigation with a range of initiatives:

• Gatwick’s unique Council Tax Initiative (announced earlier this year) would see those homes most affected by noise from a second runway receiving annual compensation equivalent to Band A Council Tax (currently £1,000) if and when the runway becomes operational. Heathrow offers no similar scheme
• Gatwick has already significantly expanded its noise insulation scheme which is unmatched by Heathrow and is the most innovative of any airport in Europe
• The expanded scheme increases Gatwick’s noise boundary by 15km each end of the runway, ensuring over 40% more homes are protected from noise than before
• The scheme provides hundreds more local homes with up to £3,000 towards double glazing and loft insulation

TRANSPORT PLEDGES

Gatwick will be “road and rail ready” for a second runway by 2021

Public consultation highlighted questions around how local roads and rail links would cope with the additional traffic created by an expanded airport. A series of transformational public transport improvements have already been committed to by Government, Thameslink and others. Gatwick has responded by setting out a series of promises and targets to improve local transport and mitigate congestion:

• The airport will ensure local road networks will be no more congested than they are today; measures will include setting up a £10m local highway development fund to meet any additional works
• 45% of Gatwick passengers already use public transport. Improvements will help increase this to 60% by 2040, comparable with the best airports in the world
• Gatwick will fully fund any road improvements such as the M23 Junction 9 and A23 diversion
• Investment in the Gatwick Gateway, a world class interchange for the airport that will also serve the local community and the wider region
• An increase in the Passenger Transport Levy used to support sustainable access and public

AIR QUALITY PLEDGES

Gatwick will continue to meet all legal air quality standards

Gatwick’s plan will result in lower air pollution impacts and will use industry leading initiatives to continue to meet the legal air quality standards which Heathrow regularly breaches today:

• Landing charges will be structured to reward airlines for operating cleaner flights
• Zero or low-emission hybrid or electric vehicle charging and fuel facilities will be provided for passengers, operational vehicles, coaches and buses
• Gatwick Airport’s Operational Vehicle Fleet will be zero or low emission (or run on low carbon fuels) by 2025
• Reduced or single engine taxiing will continue in collaboration with our airlines
• We will work with our contractors to use low emission construction vehicle fleets, plant and equipment
• To demonstrate compliance with air quality standards we will continue to monitor air quality at the airport and in Horley, and introduce two new permanent monitoring stations in the northern parts of Crawley

ENVIRONMENTAL PLEDGES

Gatwick recognises that expansion will impact on the local environment and will continue to minimise, mitigate, and compensate

During public consultation, local people raised questions around the effect of a second runway on local rivers, ancient woodland and green open space. Gatwick has responded by:

• We will replace woodland at 2:1 ratio for non-ancient and 3:1 for ancient woodland with the aim of a net gain in woodland provision
• New woodlands will be developed using transplanted material that will match as closely as is possible the character of the ancient woodland affected
• An investment programme of up to £30 million will provide flood resilience measures which will protect our local communities downstream of the airport
• The River Mole and Crawters Brook will be diverted into open channel replacing more than 500m of culvert and will be designed to develop a more natural form, enhancing biodiversity
• The new water courses will be encompassed in a linear park forming part of the airport perimeter landscaping and, over time, the river corridors will provide excellent wildlife habitat

Notes to Editors

Download Gatwick’s new ‘Connecting Britain to the Future. Faster’ document here

http://www.mediacentre.gatwickairport.com/press-releases/2014/2014-07-24.aspx