Gatwick is drawing up alternative proposals to tackle congestion on roads around the airport in an attempt to keep its second runway plan alive, against planning inspectors’ advice.
The government said in February it was “minded to approve” expansion of London’s second biggest airport, but with noise and public transport usage conditions.
The Planning Inspectorate had recommended refusing consent for the airport’s £2.2bn project to bring its emergency runway into routine use, but left the way open for the transport secretary, Heidi Alexander, to announce she had “set out a path” with a modified scheme.
Gatwick believes it can meet noise pollution requirements, but says a mandate that 54% of passengers travel to and from the airport by public transport – up from current level of about 44% – is unworkable.
The airport is drawing up counter-proposals to address road congestion, based on passenger numbers of up to 75 million if a second runway becomes operational, rather than accept a target it says it cannot control.
It has until 24 April to submit revised plans, and the chef executive, Stewart Wingate, said it would be responding before the deadline.
He said: “This has brought into very sharp focus for ourselves that what we need from the government at the end of the day is full approval with planning conditions that will enable us to go ahead and make the investment.
“We certainly want to make the investment, but we need to be certain that we’ll be able to use the infrastructure that we invest in.”
Wingate said Gatwick was “making very good progress on establishing fresh proposals [on] noise issues”, but that the public transport limit was “challenging”.
He said: “If the percentage of passengers fell beneath the 54% as currently written, we then wouldn’t be able to use the infrastructure that we’ve invested in. That’s a problem for us.
“The areas which would give us comfort would be if you had control, for example, of the timetable, of the pricing, how many carriages the trains had, and how the trains were promoted, and all of that actually lies in the hands of the train operating companies and the government.
“So we’re trying to come up with proposals which we think meet the needs to actually restrict congestion on the local roads at Gatwick.”
Wingate was optimistic that the proposals “should enable them to give us a final approval … which is in line with the calls for industry to bring forward projects that are privately financed and generate economic activity that we’re hearing from the government in recent weeks”.
It came as the airport revealed annual profits of £340m for 2024 on revenues of £1.1bn, both up about 10% on the previous year. Gatwick handled 43.2 million passengers, a 6% increase, during the 12 months.
The airport hopes to beat Heathrow to expansion by at least five years, in what would be a notable inversion of the political process held to decide where one new runway could be built in south-east England. A government-appointed commission selected Heathrow in 2016 and parliament ratified the choice, but Gatwick could now operate another runway before 2030, while its rival has yet to submit formal plans.
The government is also expected to decide soon on Luton airport’s application to grow to handle 30 million passengers a year. Alexander has until 3 April to announce her decision.
