Campaigners say Gatwick runway a ‘non starter’
03.11.09
A campaign group fighting a second runway at Gatwick have said the idea is still a ‘non-starter’ despite the £1.51 billion sale of the airport. The Gatwick Area Conservation Campaign (GACC) said the sale of the airport by BAA to investment fund Global Infrastructure Partners (GIP) should not set alarm bells ringing that a new runway will be built.
The group, which counts around 100 local councils and bodies as members, listed six reasons on its website why it feels a second runway will not be built before 2019, and a further ten reasons why a new runway would be a non-starter after 2019.
Chief among the group's reasons against a new runway before 2019 was what it called the ‘cast iron legal agreement’ preventing the construction of any new runway before August 2019. The group stated: ‘The agreement runs with the land, so the sale of Gatwick will make no difference. It could only be overturned by an Act of Parliament.’
Heading GACC's reasons for no new runway after 2019 was the lack of physical space between Horley and Crawley. The group stated: ‘As British Airways has commented, the current plans show the runways so close together that the airport could not operate efficiently. A change in the ownership of Gatwick is not going to alter the topography of the area.’
Among the other reasons GACC listed were the inconsistency of any new runway with the Government’s climate change target of an 80% cut in CO2 emissions, the stated opposition from more than 80 councils and environmental groups, and every local MP, and the unpopularity of the airport with some airlines, earning it a reputation as a ‘graveyard.’
The GACC also cited the proposals by Governments or by BAA for an extra Gatwick runway in 1953, 1970, 1991 and 2002, all of which were dropped because on close examination the constraints of the site made it impracticable.
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