WHAT ABOUT AIR QUALITY?
‘What about our air quality’? - A new report released on the 16th May, 2016 asks the Prime Minister.
Community groups and MPs delivered a copy of the report by CAGNE [Communities Against Gatwick Noise and Emissions] to 10 Downing Street raising the fact that an expanded Gatwick could present worst air quality for a much wider area than Heathrow currently due to the lack of infrastructure.
Sir Nicholas Soames MP said; “My constituency of Mid Sussex is already under the greatest pressure to meet its own existing housing needs today, even without Gatwick expansion. This is also the case with Crawley, Horsham, Brighton, Lewes and Adur all of whom share many of the same problems. The Airports Commission detailed that a town the size of Reigate, some 18,400 new homes, would be required for Gatwick expansion. With an already substandard and inefficient highway network and railway lines that are physically restricted and constantly broken, it is relevant to enquire how are the 95m passengers and workers meant to access Gatwick and London? This will represent huge infrastructure challenges as well as serious air quality concerns for our many towns and villages since growth in the region is way beyond the current infrastructure capacity and yet we are expected to accommodate an airport bigger than Heathrow with no Government funding.”
Presenting the petition were three members of the Gatwick Coordination Group of MPs; Sir Nicholas Soames MP [Mid Sussex], Jeremy Quin MP [Horsham] and Nick Herbert MP [Arundel and South Downs], together with community groups including the GACC, a conservation group that has been established since 1968 representing all areas that surround Gatwick; the CPRE Sussex (Campaign to Protect Rural England), and Sally Pavey, Chair of CAGNE.
Photo: Community groups and MPs on the steps of Number 10 where they signed a joint letter to the Prime Minister about air quality at Gatwick Airport