Climate campaigners and local protest groups organised a protest walk around Gatwick Airport perimeter on Saturday (October 14).
It was to raise awareness of the plans for a new second runway at the airport.
The walk, organised by local Dorking, Reigate and Redhill Extinction Rebellion activists, and supported by Campaign Against Gatwick Noise Emissions (CAGNE) and Gatwick Area Conservation Campaign, began at Riverside Park in Horley and took a route around the perimeter of the airport.
Two policemen accompanied the walkers on the route.
The walk comes as the October 29 deadline for the consultation on Gatwick's extension plans draws near.
London Gatwick’s application to bring its northern runway into routine use, alongside its main runway, was accepted for examination by the Planning Inspectorate on August 3, 2023.
Members of the public have until midnight on October 29 to make their views on the airport’s growth plans known to the Planning Inspectorate.
Campaigners say:
- Aviation is the fastest growing source of climate emissions worldwide and is the highest carbon emitting form of transport. It is responsible for around 10% of UK emissions – far higher than the global average.
- A second runway at Gatwick would add over 1 million tonnes of extra carbon a year, plus other greenhouse gases, soot, and vapours as well as increased noise pollution across an extended area.
- Gatwick continues to ignore how its plans will increase emissions and noise pollution in its consultation, and flies in the face of the Government’s Climate Change Committee’s call for a stop to all airport expansion, made in June 2022 and its warning that the UK Government is set to miss its carbon reduction targets.
Reigate resident the Reverend Helen Burnett, an Extinction Rebellion campaigner and vicar of St Peter and St Paul’s Church in Chaldon, helped organise the walk.
She said:
“Today we are walking close to the perimeter of Gatwick Airport to draw attention to areas that will be absorbed into the airport footprint should expansion go ahead.
“The area is already degraded by the aviation industry. At a time when CO2 emissions need to be cut drastically immediately to even contemplate expansion is counter to all scientific advice on reaching net zero.
“We walk in solidarity with all those already suffering the devastating effects of climate change - it cannot be just that their lives are threatened by our desire to fly, pursue our bucket list, see the world when the very world people feel entitled to see is in danger of extinction.
“We walk in the face of government policies that fly in the face of all that we know about how to mitigate climate breakdown.”
Members of the public wishing to comment on the consultation should go to https://www.gatwickairport.com/business-community/future-plans/northern-runway
There is also information on the websites of Campaign Against Gatwick Noise Emissions (CAGNE) https://cagne.org/stop-gatwick-expansion/ and Gatwick Area Conservation Campaign (GACC) https://www.gacc.org.uk/gatwick-expansion.php
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