New calls to curb Gatwick Airport expansion plans

Members of the campaign group Communities Against Gatwick Noise and Emissions - CAGNE - are also urging local residents, along with the MPs, to protest to the Secretary of State for Transport.

They say that Gatwick’s expansion proposals will lead to an extra 55,000 flights a year by 2033.

They maintain there is insufficient infrastructure to cope with the growth and that it will lead to increases in noise levels and carbon emissions.

A spokesman said: “The Gatwick Airport management plans for significant expansion from the main runway is simply unsustainable growth for the planet and us all.”

CAGNE is calling on transport secretary Grant Shapps to subject the airport’s expansion proposals to more scrutiny by declaring the proposals a ‘National Significant Infrastruture Project.’

In a letter to Mr Shapps, CAGNE chairman Sally Pavey says: “We believe that these plans are neither compatible with the current climate emergency, nor with achieving the Government‘s net zero carbon target.

“Gatwick already presents an unprecedented burden on our roads and a single railway line that cannot be expanded.

“The predicted increase in road/freight traffic will inevitably result in a further decline in air quality.”