The U.K. government on Thursday provided provisional approval to the creation of a second runway at Gatwick Airport outside London if certain improvements to the plan were met, including on noise reduction. Transport Secretary Heidi Alexander said in a written statement that she was "minded to approve” the expansion, which would involve moderately moving Gatwick's northern runway, which is currently only used for planes to taxi or as a backup.
Gatwick, which is about 40 miles (65 kilometers) south of London and serves more than 40 million passengers a year, is the country's busiest single-runway airport. Moving the current emergency runway 12 meters (39 feet) north would enable it to be used for departures of narrow-bodied planes such as Airbus A320s and Boeing 737s. The project is expected to cost 2.2 billion pounds ($2.8 billion) and will be funded privately.
Modifications to the project, which was adapted by planning inspectors, relate to issues such as the proportion of passengers who travel to and from the airport by public transportation and noise mitigation. Gatwick has until April 24 to respond to the new proposals, while Alexander is expected to make a final decision shortly after this, although a deadline has been extended to Oct. 27.
Climate change activists have railed against the government's provisional thumbs-up, which came just a few weeks after it gave its full backing to the construction of a third runway at London's Heathrow Airport, the country's busiest, as part of its drive to bolster the U.K.'s anemic economic growth over recent years.
“Such a decision would be one that smacks of desperation, completely ignoring the solid evidence that increasing air travel won’t drive economic growth,” said Greenpeace U.K.’s policy director, Doug Parr. “The only thing it’s set to boost is air pollution, noise and climate emissions.”.
