AMID all the confusion over claims Southampton Airport will go out of business "with the loss of 2000 jobs" and it now asking to delay the planning decision while it submits further information, I thought it would be interesting to look at some figures comparing Southampton with Gatwick.
An unfair comparison?
Gatwick is much bigger and has seven times as many air traffic movements, 15 times as many passengers, supports 17 times as many on-site jobs, spends 44 times as much money in the local area and contributes 15 times as much to the economy generally compared with what Southampton is offering post expansion.
Yet despite being so much smaller, at Southampton four times as many people will be exposed to aircraft noise than at Gatwick.
The figures show that Gatwick supports 2.5 on-site jobs for every person impacted by noise; at Southampton 32 people suffer noise for every one person who has a job.
We are being offered a very bad deal.
And "noise insulation" for a small percentage of homes won't mitigate this, especially as it will do nothing for people who wish to sit in their gardens or enjoy the local green open spaces that were found so valuable during lockdown.
Perhaps rather than expanding an airport whose flight path blights the lives of many thousands of local people we should be looking at how we can create 2000 jobs in greener industries.
And if it's really about survival rather than expansion, then to minimise the impact on local people and the environment, perhaps the airport should offer to cap passenger numbers at 2019 levels if it gets its runway extension.
Notes: Gatwick figures taken from their 2019 Masterplan: 280,700 ATMs (air traffic movements), 46m passengers/year, 23,800 jobs, £132m spent in local economy, £4.1bn GVA (gross value added. Noise figures from EBC environmental health planning response: 10450 people exposed above 51dB.
Southampton figures taken from planning application: 39,500 ATMS, 3m passengers/year, 1400 on-site jobs (note that the “2000 jobs” includes those induced in the wider economy – not included in the Gatwick figures), £3m spent in local economy, £275 GVA, 46000 people exposed above 51dB.
Angela Cotton
Comments: Our rules
We want our comments to be a lively and valuable part of our community - a place where readers can debate and engage with the most important local issues. The ability to comment on our stories is a privilege, not a right, however, and that privilege may be withdrawn if it is abused or misused.
Please report any comments that break our rules.
Read the rules hereLast Updated:
Report this comment Cancel