A group of ten councils claim current plans to open a second runway at Gatwick do not address air and noise pollution concerns.
Airport bosses submitted plans in 2023 to bring its emergency north runway into full-time use, which would see an extra 100,000 planes land and take off each year.
Work on the £2.2 billion project would begin next year and create an estimated 10,000 jobs if permission is granted, however the ten councils surrounding the development site say plans are missing important details.
“We are concerned that the current proposals do not provide sufficient controls to ensure the planned development does not exceed air and ground noise and air quality levels,” said a spokesman on behalf of the council group.
“We also do not consider that the transport network has the capacity to meet the sustainable needs that will arise from the almost doubling of passengers using the airport.
“We have been working together to ensure that if the proposal were to be approved, the required controls, mitigations and where appropriate, compensations are put in place to limit the environmental impacts and to maximise the economic and community benefits that should be sought from such development.”
The comment came ahead of a preliminary meeting into the project held today (February 27) at which the examining authority is to be appointed before the examination begins in around three months.
Currently, Gatwick runs around 50 long-haul destination flights and hopes that with the addition of the second runway it can rebound to pre-pandemic levels.
READ MORE: Gatwick Airport submits second runway and expansion plans
Gatwick is looking to use as much of its existing space as it possibly can to expand in accordance with government advice.
The airport previously lost out on the opportunity to build a new runway, a decision which went the way of Heathrow Airport instead.
Under the new plans, Gatwick bosses hope to move closer to the number of “plane movements”, the number of planes taking off and landing, that Heathrow experiences.
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