Asked by: Crispin Blunt (Independent - Reigate)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what forecast he has made of the number of households within the 55 day-evening-night equivalent level noise contour of aircraft arriving and taking off at Gatwick Airport in the event that a second runway at that airport was to become operational.
Answered by Robert Goodwill
On 14 December 2015, the Government formally announced that it accepted the Airports Commission’s case for new runway capacity in the South East, as well as the Commission’s three shortlisted schemes.
The Airports Commission undertook a thorough assessment of the noise impacts of each of the three shortlisted schemes, across a wide range of metrics, including the 55 day-evening-night sound level.
The Government continues to consider the comprehensive evidence published by the Airports Commission, including on the noise impacts of the three schemes.
Asked by: Crispin Blunt (Independent - Reigate)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, how many (a) night period and (b) night quota period aircraft movements there were at Gatwick Airport for each International Air Transport Association season between winter (a) 2007-08 and (b) 2015-16.
Answered by Robert Goodwill
The Government only sets restrictions on the number of flights between the hours of 2330 – 0600 - in the period known as night quota period and therefore we only have movement figures for this and not the wider night period hours of 2300 – 0700.
It should be noted that some flights take place during the night quota period but do not count towards the movement limits under the night flight restrictions. These include movements due to certain types of delays, to those issued dispensations by the Government, or to those by aircraft below a certain noise volume.
Two figures are given below for each aircraft season. The first refers to those that count towards the night movement limits at Gatwick Airport, and the second is the total number of movements that did not count towards these limits. This information is also available on the Gatwick Airport website: http://www.gatwickairport.com/
Period | Number of movements | Total number |
Winter 2007/08 | 2929 | 62 |
Summer 2008 | 10618 | 90 |
Winter 2008/09 | 2145 | 62 |
Summer 2009 | 9099 | 76 |
Winter 2009/10 | 2199 | 103 |
Summer 2010 | 9875 | 120 |
Winter 2010/11 | 2160 | 91 |
Summer 2011 | 9859 | 85 |
Winter 2011/12 | 1411 | 62 |
Summer 2012 | 9837 | 92 |
Winter 2012/13 | 1603 | 53 |
Summer 2013 | 9998 | 96 |
Winter 2013/14 | 1510 | 83 |
Summer 2014 | 11147 | 138 |
Winter 2014/15 | 1756 | 135 |
Summer 2015 | 11149 | 401 |
Winter 2015/16 | 1872 | 169 |
Asked by: Crispin Blunt (Independent - Reigate)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what the average number of (a) seats available and (b) passengers is on train services running from Gatwick Airport to London Bridge during the 0700 to 1000 weekday peak period.
Answered by Claire Perry
While Govia Thameslink Railways provide us with information on capacities and passenger numbers arriving at London Bridge, it is not possible to provide numbers of passengers who boarded at Gatwick Airport railway station.
Asked by: Crispin Blunt (Independent - Reigate)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what assessment he has made of the effect of improvements to the Brighton Mainline in Control Period 5 on seat capacity on northbound trains at (a) Horley, (b) Redhill and (c) East Croydon rail stations during weekday morning peak periods.
Answered by Claire Perry
The Department has not carried out a specific assessment of the effect of improvements to the Brighton Mainline (BML) in Control Period 5 (2014-19) on seating capacity from the three aforementioned stations. We are investing significantly in capacity improvements on the BML which will start to be delivered this year and fully delivered for the 2018 timetable change. Govia Thameslink Railway intend to carry out a public consultation on their proposed 2018 timetable changes later this year.
Asked by: Crispin Blunt (Independent - Reigate)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what assessment he has made of the potential effects of expansion of Gatwick Airport on seat capacity on northbound trains into London terminals in (a) 2030 and (b) 2040 during weekday morning peak periods.
Answered by Robert Goodwill
The Airports Commission analysed the likely surface access impacts of a second runway at Gatwick Airport in 2030. Its analysis concluded that the second runway does increase forecast crowding on the Brighton Main Line but not to significant levels.
At the time its work was carried out, the Airports Commission felt it was not plausible to carry out detailed surface access analysis for 2040 and beyond because of the difficulty in making assumptions about the likely state of the transport network and background growth at that time.