Gatwick announces plans to bring its standby runway into routine use
Gatwick airport has announced that it will start a 12 week consultation, from the 9th September to the 1st December, on its plans to modify and alter the current standby runway, for use as another runway. This consultation comes before Gatwick submits an application to the Planning Inspectorate for a Development Consent Order (DCO) for the expansion. This is necessary because, under the Planning Act ? 2012, any airport application that will result in more than 10 million more annual passengers, and thus be considered to be a Nationally Significant Infrastructure Project, has to go through the DCO process, rather than the conventional planning application to the local authority. Details of the consultation and its contents will be published on 9th September, but it is thought that materials will be entirely – or almost entirely – online. This application for a huge increase in annual air passengers, and thus inevitably an increase in carbon emissions, comes before the UK hosts the COP26 climate talks, and the IPCC has warned about just how serious the climate change situation is – including the urgency of the need to cut carbon emissions.
.
Tweet
Gatwick announces plans to bring its existing Northern Runway into routine use
– to secure its long-term growth, 18,400 new jobs and a boost to the local economy
25/08/2021 (Gatwick Airport press release)
Gatwick has today announced that a public consultation will start on the 9th September 2021 on plans to bring its existing Northern Runway [its standby runway] into routine use alongside its Main Runway.
The scheme will help secure the airports long-term growth, generating approximately 18,400 additional jobs by 2038 and an additional expected £1.5bn GVA to the region. While passenger numbers currently remain low due to the COVID-19 pandemic, Gatwick is taking its plans for growth forward now as we still expect to be capacity constrained in the time it would take to secure approvals, complete construction and start operations.
The proposed plans would allow the airport’s Northern Runway to be brought into routine use, for departing aircraft, by repositioning its centre line further north by 12 metres. This would enable dual runway operations with the airport’s Main Runway whilst meeting all international safety standards. The plans would add resilience to Gatwick’s operations (reducing delays and congestion), bring new global connections and allow an increase in passenger capacity to approximately 75 million passengers per annum by 2038. Other elements of the proposals include improved airport access, highway improvements, as well as additional landscape/ecological planting and environmental mitigation.
The project proposals are low impact and are in line with Government policy of making best use of existing runways. The project will be delivered in a sustainable way which helps to achieve the Government’s overall goal of net zero emissions by 2050.
As the proposed Northern Runway plans are considered a Nationally Significant Infrastructure Project, the airport plans to apply for a Development Consent Order (DCO) to build and operate the scheme.
Before the application is submitted Gatwick will be running a twelve-week public consultation, for anyone who is interested in reviewing or commenting on the proposals, from 9th September 2021 to 1st December 2021.
The Statement of Community Consultation (setting out how Gatwick proposes to consult the local community on the proposed Northern Runway project) has been published today at www.gatwickairport.com/futureplans. Full consultation materials will be made available on the www.gatwickairport.com/futureplans web pages from the 9th September along with a virtual exhibition and an option to book a telephone surgery with project experts or to request a virtual briefing for local stakeholder groups.
For those people who may find online access difficult Gatwick will be operating a mobile project office which will visit key areas around West and East Sussex, Surrey and Kent and all consultation materials will also be available at various deposit points, including libraries in those areas.
Stewart Wingate, Chief Executive Officer, Gatwick Airport, said: “While we are currently experiencing low passenger and air traffic volumes due to the global pandemic, we are confident that Gatwick will not only fully recover to previous passenger levels, but has the potential to continue to grow back into one of Europe’s premier airports. Our plans to bring our existing Northern Runway into routine use will not only help to secure that growth but will also ensure many thousands of additional jobs and a vital boost to the economy for our local region.
“We would like to hear views from local people and interested groups on the proposed Northern Runway Project as part of our comprehensive public consultation process and encourage everyone to take time to review our plans.
“Aside from the economic benefits our plans will have, we remain committed to our sustainability goals, and our Northern Runway plans are designed to be a low impact way of unlocking new capacity from our existing infrastructure, much of which is already in place.”
About Gatwick Airport
Gatwick is the UK’s second largest airport and flies a range of both short and long-haul point-to-point services. The airport is a vital piece of the UK’s national infrastructure and is also a major driver for both the regional and national economies. In 2019, a new long-term partnership was formed with VINCI Airports which purchased a 50.01% stake in the airport.
About VINCI Airports
VINCI Airports, the world’s leading airport operator, manages 45 airports in 12 countries in Europe, Asia and on the American continent. Though its expertise as a comprehensive integrator, VINCI Airports develops, finances, builds and operates airports, leveraging its investment capacity, international network and know-how to optimise operational performance, modernise airports and manage their environmental transition. In 2016, VINCI Airports was the first airport operator to commit to an international environmental strategy aimed at achieving net zero emissions over its entire network looking to 2050. All information available on www.vinci-airports.com
@VINCIAirports
www.linkedin.com/company/vinci-airports/
About Global Infrastructure Partners (GIP)
GIP manages the remaining 49.99% interest in Gatwick, is an independent infrastructure investor that makes equity investments in high quality infrastructure assets in the energy, transport and water/waste sectors. GIP has US$68 billion of Assets under Management. Its 41 portfolio companies operate in over 51 countries with more than 67,000 employees and generate annual revenues of circa US$51 billion. For more information on GIP please visit http://global-infra.com
.
Heathrow’s third runway is expected to cost about £14bn and mean another 280,000 flights a year. Gatwick hopes for an additional 100,000 flights a year for an investment of about £500m, on altering the airfield and the 2,500-metre runway, plus about £300m in additional terminal facilities.
The Aviation Environment Federation (AEF) has calculated that the runway and passenger growth would add about 1m tonnes of CO2 per annum by 2050, putting climate commitments in doubt.
The consultation, a formal requirement for the planning application, will run for 12 weeks from 9 September. Gatwick intends to submit final plans in late 2022, with hopes to have the second runway in operation by the end of the decade.
See also:
Gatwick 2nd runway plans must – and will – be opposed and rejected
Local community group, the Gatwick Area Conservation Campaign (GACC), say the proposed expansion of Gatwick, which it confirmed today, is unwelcome, unnecessary; if approved, it would have devastating consequences for the environment, local communities, and people living under flight paths, even many miles away. GACC – with local community groups – is relaunching its ‘Gatwick’s Big Enough’ campaign to fight the proposals. The plan to grow the airport’s capacity by between 40% and over 60% over the next 15 years involves use of new technology on the main runway, and re-aligning and widening the existing emergency (or standby) runway to form a 2nd runway. This will mean more noise, more local rail and road congestion, more air pollution and more carbon emissions. If it gets its way, Gatwick would be able to grow from 45 million passengers and 280,000 flights in 2018, to 74 million passengers and 390,000 flights over the next 15 years, nearly the size Heathrow is now. GACC says: “This proposal is unnecessary and ill conceived. It must and will be opposed and rejected.“
Click here to view full story…
.
.
.