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Gatwick and Heathrow airports could be extended according to government growth plans, despite the strong opposition, including the previous objections of the Secretary of Energy of Labor, Ed Miliband, on a third track for Heathrow.
On Wednesday, Foreign Minister Rachel Reeves will establish plans to grow the economy, including support for the expansion of Heathrow Airport, where a third track to the northwest would allow 712 additional daily flights.
The treasure is also analyzing whether to approve a second track in Gatwick.
But plans face opposition. Local residents and envoy groups have expressed concern about noise and air pollution, while this week Miliband suggested that airport expansion plans legally incompatible with limits legally in the United Kingdom “will not continue.”
The expansion of London airports has long been a controversial political issue, with the idea of building a third track in Heathrow discussed for almost 20 years.
So how could air capacity increase in the United Kingdom, as well as those who live nearby?
Costs and benefits
Gatwick airport already has a second track that is only used when the main track is out of use. The bosses want to operate the two tracks at the same time, effectively adding a second track to the airport.
The plans would cost £ 2.2 billion in private investment, according to Gatwick's own estimates.
The airport states that opening the second track would inject £ 1 billion in the economy every year and would create 14,000 new jobs.
At Heathrow Airport, a 2016 report said that the opening of a third track would deliver around 1 billion a year in benefits for passengers and the economy for 60 years. The airport states that the expansion would also “create tens of thousands of jobs.”
This is the reason why the chancellor is hinting at a green light for airport expansions, in line with the government's approach in intense growth.
However, new investigations from the group of left -wing experts The New Economic Forum (NEF) discovered that the majority of the growth in air capacity since 2006 was due to leisure trips, not business.
Drawing money from the United Kingdom
NEF's economist, Dr. Alex Chapman, told the Independent He questioned several estimates of the economic benefits of airport expansions.
“The government needs to explain how the creation of millions of flights transporting residents of the United Kingdom, mostly frequent flyers, abroad on vacation will help our economic security,” said Dr. Chapman.
“Encourage homes to spend their money abroad gets precious money from secondary streets and the national tourism economy in the widest regions of the United Kingdom, could call it” anti-ilumination. “
Despite this, commercial passengers will enjoy about 19 billion (71 percent) of the benefits described in Gatwick's expansion, according to an NEF article separated in 2024.
But since 2006, 76 percent of all the new holiday trips were composed of British who were abroad, three times more than tourists who visited the United Kingdom (24 percent).
“For each incoming tourist, three outgoing [UK] Tourists are created. The continuous incentive of outgoing air trips is removing the domestic spending of the most productive and fundamental sectors of the economy, ”wrote Dr. Chapman.
More passengers, more flights
In 2024, around 83.9 million passengers traveled through Heathrow, breaking previous records.
Meanwhile, Whilem Gatwick saw 40.9 million passengers in 2023, still decreased by 13 percent from their traffic levels prior to CO-COVID.
The proposed expansions would finally add 30 million passengers per year in Gatwick, under previous forecasts and around 60 million in Heathrow, according to a representative.
If these forecasts remain correct, then the combined plans would facilitate trips for around 93 million additional passengers that come and leave the United Kingdom.
Heathrow Aiport said the new plans will create capacity for 260,000 additional flights per year. The ability to open on the second Gatwick track would add 101,000 flights every year.
This brings a total of 361,000 new flights every year; An increase of approximately 18 percent to the existing capacity of the United Kingdom.
In 2024, there were about 2 million flights in the United Kingdom, according to Eurocontrol data. Around a quarter of these took place in Heathrow, according to their own data.
Environmental impact
In 2022, the government estimated that civil aviation alone represented about 7 percent of all emissions in the United Kingdom.
Dr. Chapman's article, published in December 2024, shows that emissions will exceed 60 million tons of CO2 in just five years if the expansions are approved at London airports, including Luton and London City Airport.
The biggest taxpayer to this pollution would be the expansion of Heathrow, which would represent about three quarters of the planned emissions, followed by Gatwick.
If the Heathrow expansion is not approved, the expansions in other London airports would still exceed 60 million tons of CO2 by 2030, according to the study.
These expansions alone “would eliminate” emissions saved by the Clean Government Energy Plan (CPP), Dr. Chapman suggests.
Regarding sustainability concerns, a Gatwick airport representative said: “Gatwick is investing £ 250 million to be zero net for reach 1 and 2 emissions by 2030 and supporting the action of the broadest industry to reduce emissions of CO2 of aviation “.
“The broad environmental evaluations and mitigations for the plans are detailed on the website of the planning inspection and agreed with local authorities in a binding agreement. The airport will remain well within the standards and limits of air quality. “
The loudest airports in Europe?
The houses on the 30 mile radius around Gatwick are already affected by the noise of their operations, according to the communities of the campaign group against Gatwick noise emissions (Cagne).
Under the proposed expansion, some 4,400 houses could be affected by the noise of the plane.
Gatwick Airport has said that it would be unavailable to buy up to 4,400 houses, and instead has proposed financing up to £ 26,000 of noise noise and noise isolation.
The current preferential noise routes, where residents are more likely to be affected by flights above the head, are below. These do not include expansion plans.
The affected areas include areas of cultural importance that include Ashdown Forest, Hever Castle, Chiddingston Castle and Wildlife Project Kneppp Estate.
The noise levels on existing routes will increase as another track is opened, while the houses in part of Charlwood will be exposed to new Northern flight routes, according to Cagne.
“If Gatwick receives a new track, it will be a misery and an environmental disaster for so many communities that are valued in their tranquility and natural beauty,” said Sally Pavey, president of Cagne.
Meanwhile, a new track in Heathrow would mean that the residents of the Harmondsworth village would face mandatory purchase orders (CPO), forced to sell their houses. Residents in other areas can also be affected.
Around 1,000 houses could be subject to mandatory purchase orders, according to the Secretary of Shadow Transport Gareth Bacon, while representatives of the Hillingdon Council warned that 3,750 more can be affected.
The current preferential noise routes, where residents are more likely to be affected by flights above the head, are below. These do not include expansion plans.
Heathrow's own evaluation found that more than 500,000 people would be freshly affected by the noise of the aircraft only by the proposed expansion, which led to more than 1 million affected in general.
At the upper end, government analysis suggests that 2 million people would be exposed to significant noise of track expansion.
Even without the expansions, Heathrow's noise already affects more people than any other European airport, according to the civil aviation authority.
In a statement issued to Sky News, Heathrow said he was “looking for potential options to deliver a third track in Heathrow in line with strict tests on carbon quality, noise and air.”
The decision on the expansion of the Gatwick airport track has a deadline of February 27 of this year, while the Heathrow Chief, Thomas Woldbye, says he wants a final decision of the Government at the end of 2025.
The Government will soon publish the seventh carbon budget of the United Kingdom, which will include the legal limit in the total amount of greenhouse gas emissions that the country can issue from 2038 to 2042 if the zero net is met in the mid -centuries .
