Transport Secretary Heidi Alexander said today she is ‘minded to approve’ a second runway at Gatwick Airport, but she’s delayed the final decision until 27 October.
Gatwick has applied for the go-ahead to transform a landing strip currently used for emergencies and taxiing into a fully operational runway as part of a £2.2 billion expansion.
Under planning rules, the Goverment was obliged to announce its decision on Gatwick’s application by today, but the Transport Secretary said that, while she was ‘minded to approve’ the second runway, she had pushed back the final decision till the autumn to gather addtiional information from all parties.
“Given the examining authority’s report, for the first time, recommends an alternative DCO (Development Consent Order) which includes a range of controls on the operation of the scheme and not all the provisions have been considered during the examination, I am issuing a minded to approve decision that provides some additional time to seek views from all parties on the provisions, prior to a final decision,” she said.
“The decision to set a new deadline is without prejudice to the decision on whether to give development consent for the above application.”
A fully-operational runway could see Gatwick Airport meet its passenger target of 80 million passengers a year, but planning inspectors have recommended rejecting the project, raising concerns over noise and public transport access to the airport.
Gatwick will have until 24 April to provide an update addressing any concerns before the Government announces its final decision in October.
