Campaign groups including CAGNE and Extinction Rebellion held a protest outside a Crawley hotel this morning (Wednesday, February 28) to protest London Gatwick’s plans to bring the Norther Runway into more routine use. The groups were outside the Sandman Hotel on Wednesday morning as the examination process by the Planning Inspectorate started on the airport’s £2.2 billion planning application.

If the planning application goes ahead, it could see an increase the airport operations to around 80m passengers per annum (from 46.6m in 2019) with over 390,000 aircraft movements p.a. (up from 280,000 in 2018/19). CAGNE (Communities Against Gatwick Noise Emissions), Extinction Rebellion, local residents, Safe Landing – a group for climate concerned aviation workers – and the Green Party were all represented at the protest in Crawley.