County council withdraws support for Gatwick expansion

West Sussex County Council (WSCC) has withdrawn its support for a second runway at Gatwick in response to local opposition.

The BBC reports that the council voted 37 to 26 to reverse its decision from July 2013 to back the airport’s expansion and follows Kent County Council’s withdrawal of support in November .

“The issue of a second runway at Gatwick is an extremely emotive subject,” said WSCC councillor Pieter Montyn.

“Councillors believed that Gatwick has not, to date, put forward sufficient evidence to counter the very serious environmental and noise fears of local residents.

“However, irrespective of our position, our role now is to start planning for the future.

“The decision about the runway will be made by government so we have a responsibility and duty to plan for either scenario - second runway at Gatwick or not.”

The vote comes as the council releases a 20-page document of improvements it says should be made to the Gatwick scheme before it is submitted to government.

The most recent vote was made as Gatwick released a new design proposal by Sir Terry Farrell, which it claimed would make it the most efficient two-runway airport in the world.

The airport said it was “disappointed” with the council’s decision. It argued the expansion would be good for the local community and create thousands of jobs.

It added: “We will continue to work closely with West Sussex County Council to illustrate the benefits that expansion will deliver.

“Gatwick is doing as much as possible to reduce the impact of aircraft noise on local residents.”