Member Article

Gatwick attacks Airport Commission's Heathrow recommendation

Gatwick Airport has published a dossier of criticism in an attempt to convince the Government to reject plans for a third runway at Heathrow.

Last month, the Airport Commission, led by Sir Howard Davies, formally recommended the construction of a third runway at Heathrow Airport, overruling Gatwick’s plans to expand.

The West Sussex airport has issues a 50-page report outlining ‘areas of concern’ with the recommendation made by Davies’ commission.

In the report, Gatwick claimed Davies’ recommendation “suffer[ed] from omissions or superficial analysis in some critical areas and are not sufficiently thorough in a number of important respects”.

The airport has also criticised the commission’s traffic estimates, relied upon by forecasts made by PwC.

In addition, the dossier claims that the commission has ‘underestimated’ the construction work required to build a third runway at Heathrow by 2026.

A spokesman for the commission defended its decision: “The evidence in the final report was subject to extensive analysis and consultation and we are confident that it is fit for purpose.”

Several prominent conservatives, including the Mayor of London, are strictly opposed to the expansion of Heathrow airport as many local residents are concern about noise and air pollution.

A government-appointed Cabinet, led by David Cameron, is set to make a decision on the proposed expansion of Heathrow next month.

This was posted in Bdaily's Members' News section by Ellen Forster .