London Gatwick's second runway expansion gets green light after legal challenge fails
UK hub to expand capacity after attempt to overturn judicial review rejection fails. London Gatwick's planned expansion, which will include a second runway, is set to proceed after a legal appeal against the development failed. In a ruling issued on 4 August by the Royal Courts of Justice in London, judges dismissed applications to appeal by two parties including Communities Against Gatwick Noise Emissions. The parties had sought a judicial review of the UK transport secretary's decision, in September last year, to make a development consent order authorising improvement of Gatwick's northern runway, and lifting restrictions so that both the northern and southern runway can be operated as a dual system. Permission for a judicial review was denied in June, after a hearing in January, and the parties sought permission to appeal, on several grounds, at a subsequent hearing on 27-28 July. But the application to appeal has failed. "We conclude that each of the grounds of appeal raised by each appellant is unarguable," says the ruling. "Neither appeal has a real prospect of success. We also consider that there are no other compelling reasons for either appeal to be heard." London Gatwick chief Pierre-Hugues Schmit says the judges "comprehensively" rejected the challenges of the two campaign groups, showing that the approval decision for the runway project was taken "properly and lawfully". “This final ruling means that we can now press on with the important job of bringing this exciting project to life and move forward into the design and delivery phase," he adds.