Campaign group want Gatwick terminal expansion enquiry
11.10.09
A planning application to extend Gatwick Airport's North Terminal may be called in by the Government and lead to a public inquiry, the Gatwick Area Conservation Campaign (GACC) has suggested. The group has written to Crawley Borough Council's head of planning objecting to a full application from the airport for the building of southern and eastern extensions to the North Terminal in Departures Road.
The environmental group, which has about 100 local councils and bodies as members, has called on the Government Office for the South East to call in the planning application for a full public inquiry. It says the application seeks to expand the terminal to enable Gatwick to handle 40 million passengers a year with 20,000 extra flights.
GACC said it objects to the application on grounds including that it is premature (given recent falling passenger numbers), and that the proposed development would mean more noise, more pollution, more traffic, and more danger to the public. The group also said it would put more pressure on scarce water resources, would have damaging economic consequences, and be contrary to Government climate change targets.
GACC chairman Brendon Sewill said the planning application may be called in by the Government because it affects an area wider than the planning authority – Crawley – and is likely to be a matter of regional or national controversy over its climate change implications. Crawley Borough Council planners are expected to make a decision on the application in early November.
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