Gatwick Northern Runway plans to be discussed by Eastbourne councillors again

On Monday (September 12), Eastbourne Borough Council’s Overview and Scrutiny Committee is set to discuss how to proceed, following a full council motion on Gatwick Airport in July.

The July meeting had seen Conservative group leader Robert Smart table a motion, calling on councillors to reaffirm their support for opening the airport’s second runway — a proposal previously supported by the council in a 2013 vote.

In laying out his motion, Cllr Smart had quoted claims from Gatwick that it became London’s first carbon neutral airport excluding jet fuel emissions in 2017 and that it hoped to achieve full net zero emissions by 2040.

These claims were met with some scepticism, leading to Liberal Democrat cabinet member Colin Swansborough offering an alternative motion. This called on the council’s scrutiny committee to examine the airport’s carbon claims and report back before any vote took place.

As a result, the committee is now set to decide whether to follow through on this request and, if so, what form its examination should take.

According to council papers, there are broadly two options for proceeding, either inviting stakeholders to a future meeting or establishing a task group to investigate and report back.

While the timeline for the first option is not clear (most likely because it would rely on a time being agreed with outside groups), the task group would not be expected to issue its final report until early next year.