Gatwick bosses urged to 'think again' on plans for emergency runway

The call comes from members of Communities Against Gatwick Noise and Emissions – CAGNE – who have long campaigned against expansion of the airport.

They suggest that Gatwick officials should focus on running a single runway and give up on plans to rebuild the emergency runway because of the forecast looming recession.

A spokesperson said: “The 2008 recession saw Gatwick hit the hardest, so as economists forecast a recession looming perhaps Gatwick should be focused on running a single runway airport and give up seeking to rebuild the emergency runway as a second runway in view of the costs (£500m) plus the environmental cost to the planet?”

They pointed out that Gatwick had been hit hard by the pandemic and said that a recession could also adversely affect air travel.

The spokesperson asked: “The winter is a typically quiet time for this leisure airport, so with escalating cost of living prices will there be a truly barren period for Gatwick with a decline in jobs again as people stop flying to pay household bills instead?”

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And Tahir Latif, of Campaign Against Climate Change Trade Union group said: “The combination of economic recession, the impact of the climate crisis on flying, and the need to provide aid to local communities, means that a second runway at Gatwick is far from a priority issue for the region.

"Local authorities should be focused instead on supporting a range of green, sustainable jobs, as identified in the report A Green New Deal for Gatwick, that serve both people and planet, not pandering to the demands of a tiny, well-off minority.”

But a spokesperson for Gatwick Airport said: “We're looking forward and our plans to bring our existing Northern Runway into regular use alongside our Main Runway are a low impact way to unlock new capacity by using what we already have.

"If approved, our plans would deliver a range of important benefits for the local area, including bringing new global connections, generating over 18,000 extra jobs and £1.5 billion for the region by 2038.”