Countryside campaigners have taken the unprecedented step of declaring a ‘state of emergency’ over plans to expand Gatwick Airport.
The Campaign to Protect Rural England says the proposed expansion would have a ‘devastating’ impact on the surrounding countryside.
"It would change the landscape and rural character of Sussex forever, scarring our areas of outstanding natural beauty and deeply damaging the tranquillity and ecology of our national park," said CPRA Sussex chairman David Johnson.
A statement from the CPRE said: "The Master Plan details the airport’s proposal to expand from one to potentially three runways.
"The figures show that a second runway created from Gatwick’s existing emergency runway would result in an estimated 14 million extra passengers travelling through Sussex every year.
"A third runway to the south would add millions more passengers and require ‘significant changes to the airport and surrounding roads’."
The Sussex branch has written to environmental secretary Michael Gove to voice its concerns about the airport’s proposals.
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