Overview
- The Court of Appeal on Tuesday refused permission to appeal and dismissed legal challenges by Peter Barclay and CAGNE, endorsing Mr Justice Mould’s earlier June ruling that the transport secretary’s approval was lawful.
- The approved £2.2 billion scheme will shift Gatwick’s standby northern runway 12 metres to allow routine departures, a change expected to add about 100,000 flights and roughly 13 million passengers a year.
- Gatwick and the Department for Transport say the project could create up to around 14,000 jobs and deliver about a £1 billion annual boost to the regional economy, and the airport describes the plan as privately funded and 'shovel-ready'.
- Campaigners argued the government failed to properly assess local and climate impacts including noise, transport and wastewater, while ministers point to targeted green-aviation spending such as more than £219 million for sustainable aviation fuel and about £43 million for hydrogen and electric aircraft development.
- With legal uncertainty removed, Gatwick moves into design, delivery and preparatory phases toward first departures around 2030, and campaigners say they will continue to hold the project to account while the airport says construction disruption will be limited because the runway already exists.