Our Northern Runway Consultation

We are now consulting on our proposals to bring the existing Northern Runway into routine use alongside our main runway. We are calling our proposals the Northern Runway Project. It is anticipated that by 2038 this would increase Gatwick’s passenger throughput to approximately 75.6 million passengers per annum (mppa), compared to a maximum potential passenger throughput based on the existing runway of approximately 62.4 mppa. This represents an anticipated increase in capacity of approximately 13.2 mppa.

This level of passenger increase, along with the road improvements needed to support it, means the project is classed as a Nationally Significant Infrastructure Project (NSIP) and we will need to apply for a development consent order (DCO) to build and operate it. A DCO can combine planning consent to develop, operate and maintain an infrastructure project, with other important planning and environmental approvals that would otherwise need to be applied for separately.

Consultation is an important part of the DCO process as it enables everyone to comment on the proposals. The feedback received, along with further technical work and environmental studies, will inform the development of our proposals ahead of submission of our DCO application to the Planning Inspectorate. The Planning Inspectorate will then review and examine the application, including encouraging submission of views from local people and other interested parties, before making a recommendation to the Secretary of State for Transport, who will take the final decision on whether or not to grant consent.

For more information on the DCO planning process, please visit: infrastructure.planninginspectorate.gov.uk.