Tom Espine, Faarrea Masud and Sean Dilley
BBC company
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Expansion at Gatwick airport got closer after the government has given the plan its provisional support.
On the surface, Gatwick’s plans seem relatively simple.
Unlike Heathrow, which wants Bulldozer houses and relaunch the M25, Gatwick offers to move an already existing track just 12 meters north and put it regularly.
However, this may not happen for years, or perhaps not to happen at all.
How did we get here?
Gatwick officially opened in 1958. There was an additional track and taxi, which was extended so that it could be used as a backup in case the main track is out of service.
He was never supposed to be for daily use.
In fact, in 1979, the owners of Gatwick signed a legally binding agreement with the local council so as not to build another operational track for at least 40 years.
Now, however, Gatwick is eager to increase flights in and outside, in particular for short-haul destinations, regularly putting the rescue track.
In the summer of 2023, he submitted a planning request, including for additional buildings, overflights on local roads and expanding rail links.
However, the central line of a track which is fully operational must be at least 210 meters from the midline of any other track.
The emergency track must move 12 meters to the north to comply with this safety rule.
How long would the expansion take?
It is not because the government supported support to the private program of 2.2 billion pounds sterling.
There is a strong opposition to the expansion of Gatwick among certain local residents opposing an increase in traffic, noise and pollution.
Climate activists oppose any expansion of the airport, stressing that additional flights will make it more difficult for the United Kingdom to comply with its obligations to reduce emissions that modify the climate.
And in January, the deputies called on the government to delay the decision to expand Gatwick until the current noise levels are adequately monitored on the site.
Emily Coady-Stemp / BBC
Local residents expressed opposition to the expansion plan
Gatwick has until April 24 to submit more information to support its planning request, and respond with measures, such as noise attenuation and the proportion of passengers traveling to airport via public transport.
Then there will be a new consultation on the plans, before the government made a final decision on October 27.
Even if Gatwick receives the green light, he could still face new obstacles.
“There remains the possibility that the final decision can be subject to a legal challenge which would lead to an additional delay,” BBC Paul Maile, Planning and infrastructure in Evershed Southerland, told BBC.
“It is likely that it will be several years before the start of work, as soon as possible,” he said.
Will this really happen?
Gatwick previously said that he thought the new track could be ready at the end of the decade.
But there is still a reasonable chance that it does not happen at all.
By 2030, there will be another general election, and another government could cancel the previous decisions. Planning authorizations and regulations may change and climatic objectives could be increased – which would endanger the project.
It will also depend on what the public wants, explains Professor Tony Travers of the London School of Economics.
Politicians are “sensitive to public pressure”, so sometimes choose to slow down or cancel infrastructure projects like this.
Although there are broader advantages of the airport expansion, the regional and national economy as well as the itinerant audience, these advantages generally do not push people to do sides and write to their deputies. Live under a flight trajectory, on the other hand, the fact.
Richard Threlfall, a global infrastructure, government and health care manager at KPMG International, says that other countries, which have no democracies as solid as the United Kingdom, can simply “continue and do it”, when they want infrastructure to be built.
In the bypass of British roads, railway infrastructure, accommodation and other projects can be slowed or completely blocked, if enough people oppose it.
But this government has exercised its reputation on overcoming it opposition to projects which, according to it, will increase growth, indicating that it wants to see the expansion of the airport despite objections.
