What a busy and difficult year for all concerned. Thanks to our members and supporters CAGNE has gone from strength to strength. As a member of parliament once said to CAGNE, “If they are attacking you, then you must be doing a good job. Keep at it!”
Thanks to your support CAGNE, the umbrella aviation community and environment group for Sussex, Surrey and Kent, has been able to develop a new website. We would love your feedback – cagnegatwick@gmail.com or twitter @Cagne_Gatwick or Facebook CAGNE Gatwick or Instagram CAGNEGatwick
Thanks again to you, CAGNE has been able to use the survey results from our two-surveys conducted in September and October 2020 to support our efforts for a fair and balanced approach to airspace at Gatwick Airport and nationally concerning aviation environmental impacts.
Airport Expansion – As you will have seen in the national press the Supreme High Court ruled in favour of Heathrow expansion** to build a 3rd runway (16thDecember 2020). Gatwick Airport still state that they will push ahead with the Development Consent Order in 2021 so see our film about night flights, airport expansion and cutting emissions. https://youtu.be/vaZuAtwqrzw
The CAGNE comment – ‘The Heathrow decision rules out any chance for Gatwick Airport to rebuild the emergency runway as a second runway. As the Airport Commission warned, allowing Heathrow (or Gatwick Airport) to expand would limit regional airports’ expansion due to the impact on the Government’s aim to reduce carbon emissions (Heathrow would produce 40m tonnes of carbon with R3).’
Ministers have been advised by their Climate Change Committee (government advisors) that, in order to keep emissions down, Heathrow should only expand if regional airports contract.
Dr David Joffe, Head of Carbon Budgets in a CCC webinar (15th December 2020), answering questions about the UK 6th Carbon Budget and the aviation sector said, when explaining the concept of ‘no net expansion of airports’ as repeatedly mentioned in the CCC report:
‘No net expansion means either no expansion [of airports], or expansion in one part of the country has to be balanced by other parts of the country. Clearly the most high-profile potential increase in capacity is in the south-east, and if that expansion of capacity goes ahead, then that means not only no expansion of regional airports, but that some of them would have to restrict flights or would have to close. There’s just no scope for ever-increasing airport expansion to be compatible with our climate targets’
ACTION– Get involved in our next film ready for the launch of the No Night Flight petition in January. Download the mini posters here, take a picture of you or friends holding one or all and return to us before 1st January. Parental permission will be needed for images that include children. Email to cagnegatwick@gmail.com
Podcast explaining night flights at Gatwick Airport – . https://anchor.fm/sally-pavey/episodes/Night-Flights-at-Gatwick-Airport-explained-emgjv8
Do you support the CAGNE stance on No New Runways? To rebuild the Gatwick Airport emergency runway as a second runway would add nearly one million tonnes of additional carbon onto the forecast 0.95 million tonnes that Gatwick state will be released by them in 2028.
It is not just the carbon that residents should concern themselves with, but NOx and vapours yet to be tackled by the aviation industry.
We are delighted to have Green Jobs for Gatwick Area authors speaking to our CAGNE Aviation Town and Parish Council Forum (30 council members) in February. See attached document.
For a sustainable future CAGNE continues to urge local authorities and government to look to the industries of tomorrow rather than the volatile aviation sector for economic stability and future job creation for school leavers.
Noise Management Board – CAGNE continues to lobby for a fair and balanced approach to airspace noise for all communities. And we continue to call for ‘best practice’ in transparency as suggested by ICCAN https://iccan.gov.uk/wp-content/uploads/2020_12_02_ICCAN_Best_Practice_Engagement.pdf
If you attended the virtual NMB meeting in December, you may have heard Gatwick say that they may have to revisit the modernisation of airspace stage 2 (FASIS). After much lobbying by CAGNE this would be a sound move by the airport as due to the lack of transparent engagement the process is already in favour of some but not all communities including those that could be newly overflown with Noise Preferential Routes potentially being removed and vectoring, turning of departing aircraft, at low heights due to Continuous Climb Operations.
The Civil Aviation Authority (CAA) has produced an update as COVID has delayed the FASIS process and now the industry is looking to government for finance!
‘The Department for Transport (DfT) and CAA have yet to respond to all of the recommendations in ACOG’s ‘Remobilising the Airspace Change Programme’ report. This includes ACOG’s recommendation that the Department provide funding to airspace change sponsors to remobilise the airspace change programme. Therefore, whilst there has been some progress in the governance and planning of these initiatives, the CAA has concluded there is a risk to their progression unless a source of funding is identified.’
The jury is out on whether FASIS is good news for communities and as our survey showed you are not sure you trust the government’s handling of this and most definitely you do not wish to see new areas overflown to save CO2 or give respite to others.
ACTION – CAGNE AGM is Virtual – On 5th February join us at 7pm with high profile guest speakers. Questions will be taken in advance when the list of speakers is revealed.
ACTION – CAGNE poster and advert for 2021 is attached here. Please share with others that may wish to join our mailing list or are not aware of who to object to aircraft noise. Attached
COVID impact on Gatwick Airport – traffic numbers had been significantly lower in the previous quarter compared with the same period in the previous year; typically flight numbers during the day had reduced by 80% and during the night period by 90%. In order to show how traffic distribution had changed over recent months, a comparison of a typical summer day (24hr period) in 2019 and 2020 for arrivals and departure maps were presented.
More information
Heathrow – Details of Supreme High Court ruling revealed early by Tim Crosland from Plan B who broke the court embargo as an act of civil disobedience against the verdict – bad not just because it opens the door to future Heathrow expansion, but in the precedent it sets.
Night Flight consultation (1).
Night Flight Restrictions
National Infrastructure Strategy: Fairer, faster, greener