Watchdog wants new Gatwick runway
17.08.08
Controversial plans to build a second runway at Gatwick will be revived by the Competition Commission this week, the Observer reports. It says that the watchdog, which is due to report on airports group BAA, will criticise the government for stating its preference for new runways at Heathrow and Stansted, ahead of Gatwick.
The Commission will publish its provisional findings on its investigation into BAA this week. The sale of Gatwick, and possibly Stansted plus a Scottish airport, will be recommended to try to foster greater competition between airports. Comments on the expansion of Gatwick will see protests from local campaigners and environmentalists, and throw into confusion plans to expand Heathrow and Stansted.
The Government will decide this autumn whether to allow a third runway at Heathrow. Ministers are also planning to launch a public inquiry next spring into BAA's proposals to build a second terminal and runway at Stansted. The Observer claims that the Commission's findings could influence the government's decisions on Heathrow and Stansted, or make it more likely that all three new runways get the go-ahead.
The sale of Gatwick could fetch around £3bn, with a new owner more likely to build a new runway to enable it to compete with BAA's other airports in the south east - Heathrow, Stansted and Southampton.
BAA signed an agreement with West Sussex County Council in 1979 under which it promised not to build a second runway before 2019 if it was allowed to build the North Terminal. But this could, in theory, be overturned by parliament and does not prevent BAA - or the new owner of Gatwick - from carrying out the planning work before then.
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