By Cllr Brenda Smith, Crawley Borough Council and West Sussex County Council (Langley Green)
Flooding is a complex issue - Gatwick Airport Ltd already recognise that their flood defences are weak in respect of the North Terminal and have plans to improve this. They may claim that holding ponds can be created so that transfer of rainfall into local watercourses can be delayed. Much was said on flooding by Stewart Wingate and others to the House of Commons Transport Committee recently. They will have their work cut out, though. Gatwick has a long history:
1936 The area was prone to fog and water logging as a result of poor drainage due to heavy clay soils(sound familiar). This in turn caused the new subway (from the then railway station) to flood after rain.
1937 As a result and because longer landing strips were needed, the pre - war British Airways moved to Croydon Airport. Gatwick went back to private flying
1946 Gatwick Airport was officially decommissioned but continued to operate as a civil airfield, initially for a six-month trial period. However, persistent drainage issues affected the airport’s usage.
1950 Despite opposition from local authorities, the Cabinet decided that Gatwick was to be an alternative to Heathrow.
July 1952: The Government said the airport was to be developed, primarily to cater for aircraft diverted from Heathrow in bad weather.
2013/14: flights from the North Terminal were severely disrupted by flooding.
Now try to imagine that huge area to the north of the existing runway was duplicated to the south. The runway alone is equivalent in area to 100 football pitches, so imagine how many more football pitches the hard standing for piers and taxiways occupy now, and how many more with another 100 pitch second runway, plus all the associated taxiways, new stands, terminal building/s maintenance sheds and hangers. The enormous area to the right of the “two runway” plan over the railway line is for new car parking. The existing car parks are often totally full in summer. This is a HUGE addition to the run-off area. Rivers simply cannot contain the quantity of water involved in the sort of deluges we have seen and will increasingly see in the future. Sending flood water downstream just passes on the problem. The purpose of a flood plain is to flood, holding water upstream. Gatwick’s flood water - coming your way soon, look out Ifield, and Langley Green.
The current Gatwick started operations in 1952. It was in the wrong place then, it’s in the wrong place now, and it will still be in the wrong place in 2030.