The UK's Transport Secretary says she believes in airport expansion. It comes before the Thursday deadline for a planning application from the UK's second busiest airport London Gatwick to open a second runway.
CGTN’s Ray Addison reports.
CGTN’s Ray Addison reports.
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00:00Gatwick Airport is the busiest single runway airport in Europe.
00:05Officially opened in 1958, it's grown from just 186,000 passengers a year to over 40 million.
00:13But this week it could get the green light to expand,
00:16bringing its existing emergency runway, currently limited to acting as a taxiway,
00:22into regular use, an idea which concerns local campaigners.
00:26You have to understand that Gatwick is 24-7, so it flies at night time.
00:31So for people trying to sleep, that is really not good news.
00:35When people want to have their windows open,
00:43they have noise like that going over their houses.
00:46If the UK Transport Secretary agrees, the expansion would increase passenger numbers
00:52to an estimated 75 million a year by the late 2030s.
00:56But with more flights come more carbon emissions, risking the government's net zero targets.
01:02The nearby village of Chalwood is on the flight path.
01:06You certainly feel vibration.
01:08A number of people will tell you about their front door rattling, their windows rattling, etc.
01:13And it's not necessarily immediately by the runway.
01:17You'll get people, I know people who live about a mile and a half further out.
01:20You can't stop climate change and the carbon emission impact,
01:24which is critical, absolutely critical.
01:27And they're not going to reach net zero if you put Gatwick expansion in place.
01:31But not everyone is against the plan.
01:34Business leaders say cargo coming into Gatwick could double,
01:38generating 35,000 new jobs and boosting Britain's struggling economy by $2.5 billion every year.
01:46So from an estate agency point of view, obviously more people moving into the area.
01:50There is a lot of proposed developments around the Crawley, Hawley and the South East.
01:55So from an estate agent's point of view, it's good for business.
01:59A lot of the businesses are in favour of it,
02:02but several have concerns about the usual, which is the environment.
02:06MPs in this area have asked for the Gatwick expansion decision to be delayed
02:11until a complete assessment has been made of the noise and environmental impact.
02:15However, with the Chancellor already giving the go-ahead to the expansion of Heathrow Airport,
02:20plus concerns about low growth and low investment,
02:23the smart money says Gatwick's second runway will get lift off.
02:28Ray Addison, CGTN, Gatwick Airport.