Many constituents will be aware of Gatwick’s DCO application to bring the Northern Runway into routine use and substantially increase the capacity of the airport. I remain deeply concerned with Gatwick’s failure to engage adequately with local councils and about the impact of potential expansion on local housing and services.
In my response to the Planning Inspectorate’s (PINS) recent call for submissions I made clear that I cannot support the application in its current form.
I previously wrote to Gatwick on behalf of local MPs demanding that they delay their submission until they provided local councils with detailed analysis of the impact on the local environment, residents and infrastructure.
We cannot underestimate the impact Gatwick’s proposals would have on our area for decades to come, not least a requirement for more housing at a time when the limitations imposed by water neutrality (rightly) has a huge impact on our local area and there is a clear difficulty in securing housing for local people.
I am pleased that the new station concourse at Gatwick has now opened, however this only scratches the surface of the traffic infrastructure required.
For many constituents their nearest A&E facility is in Redhill (East Surrey Hospital). The journey time, under blue lights, let alone for visiting, is already regarded as too long by the vast majority of local residents. I am deeply concerned that the impact of millions of extra passenger journeys would result in additional delays on getting emergency cases to hospital. This is a permanent worry regarding the impact of expansion but will be at its most acute in the “construction phase” which could last 14 years.
We need to fully understand the impact of extra congestion and the full set of mitigations. In closing down the prospect of a new, more local, hospital a decade ago the NHS set out their clinical concerns about how best to provide patient care and the need for specialist provision effectively treating patients at scale being the best way to improve outcomes. However on a practical level we must ensure the realities of getting to and from hospital in the future are fully and fairly reflected: the Gatwick proposals add further questions that must be addressed.