Today, the Secretary of State for Transport sent a note to MPs on the date extension instead of explaining the decision in the House of Commons.
Mims Davies MP said:
Heidi Alexander MP, the new Secretary of State for Transport in this Labour Government, has today chosen to give conditional approval to a development consent order application by Gatwick to bring its emergency runway into routine use.
With a final decision deadline now for the 27th October this year, this would mean the West Sussex airport could be used for an additional 100,000 flights a year with annual passenger numbers rising from 45 million to 75 million in the future. This airport is a key employer and economic driver, but we must be in no doubt this choice will have a significant impact.
Rather than share this decision with the House of Commons in the usual way, the Labour Government chose to give the nod for this ‘back door’ approach to airport expansion via a low-key written statement.
I understand this will be disappointing news for many of my constituents who have written to me worried about an increase in aircraft noise, air pollution, climate change targets and other environmental issues. Whilst the Lib Dem's in Mid Sussex District Council are supporting the second runway, I appreciate there are many valid concerns about the proposal, the way it has been proposed and is being dealt with by this government.
I have always disagreed with the way Gatwick has gone about their current expansion plans and have been clear on that with the management at hearings, meetings and engagements. To that end, I have had regular meetings with the leadership team at Gatwick to share the concerns of my constituents around this process and other surface travel issues, particularly east/west, including connectivity, the lack of bus and rail links and road capacity in order to protect the environment, minimise noise and tackle increased air pollution while still creating the jobs we need in our local communities.
We met most recently again at the Party Conference and I will be meeting with them again now conditional approval has been given by this Labour Government.
Mims continued:
Sussex has already experienced significant population growth which was the reason for the boundary changes last year when my constituency was effectively split in two, creating two, new shaped seats. This natural population growth will now be super-charged by the ambitious house building plans of the Labour Government.
The 1.5 million houses planned for this Parliament will mean further, huge housing projects in Mid Sussex, the Lewes district and Wealden as the Labour Government forces faster and more significant change onto rural Sussex and its towns and villages.
We will need to roundly ensure we strike a balance between the clear and vital economic benefits & jobs an expanded Gatwick can bring to our area while maintaining standards and environmental protections.
Importantly, we must ensure local people, our communities and key stakeholders such as the railways receive a fair deal and uncertainties around future changes in airspace, additional noise, surrounding infrastructure, housing and transport needs as well as the environment are properly addressed.
Change is coming and I aim to use it as an opportunity to fight for long-term infrastructure projects to alleviate current capacity pressures in our surface transport and bring future benefits across the constituency. I will push for upgrades on our roads and railways, the easing of rail bottlenecks at Croydon and road queues at Felbridge amongst many others, champion key infrastructure projects such as the Brighton Mainline 2 linking Uckfield, Lewes and Brighton, work to improve bus services to Crawley from East Grinstead, vastly improve our East/West connectivity and upgrade diesel trainlines.
Mims finished:
The expansion of Gatwick seems increasingly likely to happen under this Labour Government and we must do what we can to harness it to our advantage.
My colleagues and I will work tirelessly to get the best possible outcomes to make sure local people and local communities benefit from the changes this Government decision will bring and that our lives are enriched as much as possible with local job opportunities, environmental safeguards, better facilities and travel experiences in our area.
