A Second Runway for Gatwick Our April 2014 Runway Options Consultation 2 Gatwick Runway Options Consultation Contents Foreword 05 Section 1 Our consultation 07 Section 2 Our runway options 11 2.1 Features common to all options 15 2.2 Option descriptions 21 2.3 Airport Surface Access Strategy 29 2.4 Environmental and social effects of the options 43 2.5 Economic effects of a second runway 55 Section 3 Our evaluation of the options 59 Section 4 Community engagement 65 4.1 Working with our communities 66 4.2 Tackling noise 67 4.3 Taking responsibility for our impacts 68 Section 5 Your opportunity to get involved 73 Appendix 1 Policy context 76 Appendix 2 Runway crossings 81 Plan 0A Context plan - Environmental features 93 Plan 1A Option 1 Layout plan 94 Plan 1B Option 1 Boundary plan 95 Plan 1C Option 1 Air Noise Contour plan 96 Plan 2A Option 2 Layout plan 97 Plan 2B Option 2 Boundary plan 98 Plan 2C Option 2 Air Noise Contour plan 99 Plan 3A Option 3 Layout plan 100 Plan 3B Option 3 Boundary plan 101 Plan 3C Option 3 Air Noise Contour plan 102 Gatwick Runway Options Consultation 3 Foreword In its Interim Report published in December 2013, the Airports Commission included Gatwick in its shortlist of potential locations for the next runway in the UK. In 2015, the Airports Commission will recommend to Government where the next runway should be built. We recognise that the local communities around Gatwick will have many questions about what a second runway at Gatwick would mean for them. The purpose of this consultation is to provide information about our options for a second runway at Gatwick and to give you an opportunity to tell us what you think about them. Every year, Gatwick contributes around £2 billion to the South-East’s economy. We enable businesses to prosper, tourism to flourish, and 21,000 people to say they are proud to work at Gatwick. I, and my team, know that the extensive social and economic benefits that Gatwick creates must be balanced with our responsibility for managing and where possible reducing our impact on the environment and local communities. We are committed to doing this to increase the sustainability of our operations. At the Commission’s request, we will soon be providing more detailed information about the runway option at Gatwick which they have shortlisted. However, this consultation is important because we will use the responses we receive to refine our plans and to help us reach a firm decision on the option we prefer. We will then ask the Airports Commission to take that option forward for further consideration as part of its evaluation process and subsequent advice to the Government. I hope that everyone with an interest in the future of Gatwick will participate in this consultation and help us to shape our plans. Yours sincerely, Stewart Wingate Chief Executive, Gatwick Gatwick Runway Options Consultation 5 6 Gatwick Runway Options Consultation Section 1: Our consultation This section of the document sets out the Sussex County Council which prevents background to this public consultation. construction of a new runway before 2019. We explain the work of the Airports We explain that we have proposed three Commission, which has shortlisted a options for a second runway at Gatwick, proposed second runway at Gatwick and that we have ranked these in a alongside proposals for an additional provisional order of preference. runway at Heathrow. This consultation ensures that, from an We discuss the process of safeguarding early stage, you have a voice and are able land for a second runway at Gatwick, and to influence our plans for a second runway we confirm that we remain committed to by telling us what is important to you. honouring the 1979 agreement with West Gatwick Runway Options Consultation 7 Section 1: Our consultation coNTEXT As we explain in Section 3 of this document, we have now analysed the options and we The Airports Commission have ranked these in a provisional order In September 2012, the Government of preference, with Option 3 being our announced the setting up of an Airports preferred first choice. Commission (the Commission), chaired by This document provides information Sir Howard Davies, to consider the UK’s about the runway options we have been runway capacity needs. considering. In December 2013, the Commission published We have provided further policy context in an Interim Report which shortlisted possible Appendix 1. locations for a new runway in the UK. A proposed second runway at Gatwick was We have provided, at the beginning of shortlisted alongside proposals for an Section 2, a glossary of terms used in additional runway at Heathrow. explaining our runway options. In 2015, the Commission will recommend to The Commission’s Assessment Government where the next runway should of Gatwick be built. In paragraph 6.74 of its Interim Report, the Commission stated: “Gatwick Airport Ltd Safeguarded land has proposed that a new runway should be In 2003, the previous Government called constructed south of the existing one. It has for land for a second runway at Gatwick identified three options: close-spaced, wide- to be safeguarded. This is reflected in spaced/dependent operation and wide-spaced/ local planning policies, which restrict independent operation. The Commission’s development in the safeguarded area. assessment has focused on the last – a runway A 1979 agreement with West Sussex over 3,000m in length spaced sufficiently County Council prevents construction of south of the existing runway (at least 1,035m) to a new runway before 2019 and Gatwick permit fully independent operation. This offers remains committed to honouring this the greatest increase in capacity while still agreement. However, the 1979 agreement having relatively low environmental and noise does not prevent development of a impacts compared with some other potential second runway at Gatwick after 2019. sites. The Commission will, however, keep this under review as it takes forward more Development of Gatwick’s runway options detailed development and appraisal. The proposal also includes related new terminal Before a new runway can be built at facilities and taxiways between the new and Gatwick, its location must be decided. After existing runways.” considering a wider range of alternatives, we have identified three main options for The Commission’s consultation the configuration of the runway and its The Commission has said that it will hold a associated infrastructure. national consultation in the autumn of 2014. In our July 2013 submission to the It plans to present the promoters’ refreshed Commission, we proposed three options for designs of the schemes at Gatwick and a new runway south of the existing runway. Heathrow, and its assessments of the We have continued to develop these three schemes’ economic, social and environmental options since then. impacts and their viability. 8 Gatwick Runway Options Consultation Section 1: Our consultation The Commission has asked Gatwick to Our questions provide updated information for the We have set out in Section 5 of this Commission to assess. We will therefore document how you can find out more about provide further information on our Option 3, our plans and give us your views. as requested, in May 2014. Whilst we know that people will have Our consultation differing views about whether Gatwick should The Commission has also said that “it will be have a second runway, this consultation important for the promoters of short-listed does not address this question. There will schemes to ensure that groups representing be an opportunity to give views on whether nearby residents and businesses, and other a runway should be built at Gatwick or stakeholders such as passengers and airport elsewhere when the Commission launches its users, have the opportunity to make their own national consultation later this year. views known. The Commission therefore encourages scheme promoters to engage with and understand the views of these groups, and to report on this as part of their submissions.” We have therefore decided to launch this public consultation in April 2014 and to report the outcome of the consultation to the Commission (and more widely) in July 2014. We have included all three of our main runway options in the consultation document, and we have ranked these in a provisional order of preference, with Option 3 being our preferred first choice, for the reasons explained in Section 3 of this document. Our plans for a second runway at Gatwick are a work in progress and we continue to refine our options. The reason for consulting on all the options is to ensure we are transparent, to hear people’s views on which option they prefer and why, and to help us to improve our plans for a second runway at Gatwick. By consulting now we can ensure that your views are taken into account as part of the Commission’s ongoing work. We have decided to do this not only because it is in line with the Commission’s guidance, but also because we believe it is important to ensure that people have a voice and are able to influence the development by telling us what is important to them. Gatwick Runway Options Consultation 9 Section 1: Our consultation ABOUT THIS coNsuLTATION NEXT STEPS DOCUMENT Spring 2014 This consultation document contains • We consult on our runway options information about our shortlisted options for (this consultation); a second runway at Gatwick. • We submit more information to the The document is organised in sections: Airports Commission about our second Section 1 (this section) explains the purpose runway proposals for Gatwick. and context of this consultation; Summer 2014 Section 2 provides details of our three shortlisted runway options; and explains • We analyse all responses to this their design features, economic benefits, and consultation; potential environmental impacts.