BREAKING NEWS: County council ‘in principle’ urged to support second runway at Gatwick

The historic move comes after around 40 years of opposition to a new runway by the local authority.

The debate occurs on the same day as Gatwick Airport Ltd (GAL) is due to submit its proposals with the Airports Commission.

The motion from Pieter Montyn (Con, The Witterings), WSCC’s cabinet member for highways and transport, says: “This council supports a vibrant, growing economy and the Government’s drive for growth for the future economic prosperity of the country.

“Gatwick Airport Limited has recently given a clear indication of its intent to publish details of proposals submitted to the independent Airports Commission for future expansion of the airport’s capacity, including the addition of a second runway.

“This council, in principle, supports such proposal as conducive to economic growth and prosperity in West Sussex, and is equally cognisant of the environmental and infrastructure issues that may arise from a future increase in airport capacity.

“The county council therefore asks the leader and cabinet to exercise influence and pressure in supporting such expansion at Gatwick Airport whilst having due regard to the potential environmental and infrastructure issues and, where possible, to take a lead in addressing these issues and securing benefits for the communities in the county.”

The webcast of the council meeting starts at 10.30am and there is a link from the front page of the website.

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