Campaign against 2nd Runway at Gatwick – Update
A message from One’s Enough about the recent meeting in Crawley
Hello everyone, last Thursday evening (Thursday 24th July) we held a very successful public meeting at the Civic Hall in Crawley, attended by some 120 people, most being horrified by the magnitude of the proposal and environmental implications of a 2nd Runway at Gatwick.
For your information please see below copies of the literature handed out at the meeting, summarising the current position, listing the key implications to our town and the future of for our children, together with what you can do to ensure that your opposition to a second runway is heard by as many people as possible.
The meeting was held just hours after Gatwick Airport Ltd (GAL) presented a new package of compensation and additional funding initiatives to minimise and justify the impact of a second runway. As always, the headline grabbing figures initially look substantial, however apart from now offering 25% over “prevailing” market rates to those home owners whose properties are potentially to be demolished, the carrots they offer should be seen for what they are in relation to the devastation and damage their proposals will have for us, the residents of Crawley, as minimal and unacceptable compared to their projected vast profits.
In their document GAL promise that the newly proposed funds will ensure that “all local roads are no busier than they are today”. One might ask how will all the millions of additional airport passengers and those living in some 45,000 new houses and those workers going to the thousands of new jobs get around the area without using and making our local roads busier if not gridlocked????
During the meeting many issues were raised and discussed, but the overriding concern was that far too many Crawley residents do not appreciate the magnitude of damage that a second runway would cause, across all of Crawley and the immediate area, to ALL aspects of our environment. Or they believe that Crawley will benefit greatly from new jobs, or believe that the Government has already decided that Gatwick should get a second runway and nothing can be done to stop it.
It is especially this concern that One’s Enough believes is our major goal to counter these, at best misguided or at worst downright naive, perceptions by spreading information across all of Crawley’s neighbourhoods.
In the coming months Crawley Borough Council will need to decide whether or not to support the 2nd runway proposals, with a vote by the local councillors, of whom a number are either in favour of the proposal or still undecided. A Crawley Borough Council vote in favour of a second runway will undoubtedly cause major damage to all anti runway campaigns across the South East and make the choice of Gatwick that much more likely. Although ultimately the final decision will be taken by the Airports Commission and the Government of the day, after the General Election next May 2015.
It is now critical that the current One’s Enough Steering Committee is enlarged to be able to undertake a major communications initiative requiring many supporters to actively help spread the
message across Crawley.
We again ask for you to urgently consider stepping forward to join the Committee and/or offering active assistance especially during the coming months and through the autumn when the Airports Commission’s Public Consultation is expected. This may entail helping to organise other public meetings, or delivering and distributing leaflets.
If you are able to offer any help, however small, please email us in the coming week or two.
Many thanks
On Behalf of ‘One’s Enough’
Brenda Smith Chairperson
& Derek Meakings Treasurer
Your support and donations are critical to the undertaking and success of this campaign, Contact us at
gatwickonesenough@gmail.com
07758 184680
www.facebook.com/onesenoughgatwick
to support the campaign and offer help.
Donations may be made by sending a cheque payable to “One’s Enough” to One’s Enough c/o 23, Fitchet Close, Crawley, RH11 7PY. Cash donations may also be made at the meeting on 24th July.
Ones Enough – Crawley’s campaign against a second Gatwick runway led by a cross party group of local councillors, supporting a One Runway, Two Terminal Airport with Spare Capacity