Bosses at Gatwick Airport are proposing higher car drop-off and parking charges in a bid to improve their chances of securing planning approval for a second runway.
The plans were detailed in the airport's latest submission to the Planning Inspectorate, which has ruled that at least 54 per cent of passengers must use public transport for the second runway to operate unrestricted flights.
Currently, Gatwick charges motorists £6 for a drop-off lasting under ten minutes, which applies to taxis as well as private cars. Each additional minute is charged at £1, up to a maximum of £26 for 30 minutes.
Before January last year, the fee was £5, and drivers at the time were outraged by the increase, with many calling it a "rip-off". Heathrow charges £6 and Stansted £7, meaning a further rise at Gatwick would likely make it London's most expensive airport to reach by car.
Stewart Wingate, Gatwick Airport's chief executive, said increasing car-related fees was the main mechanism available to encourage passengers onto public transport, The Telegraph reports.
He explained: “We’d be trying to influence people who were making that marginal decision of ‘should I drive and drop off or use the car parks, or should I use the rail services?’
“The forecourt drop-off charge is the mechanism we can use. We could start to increase that drop-off charge. If we adjust that upwards we would also make changes to the car parking tariffs as well.”
Mr Wingate added that increased fees would only be implemented as a last resort if too few passengers used trains. He did not specify how large the increase would be.
The proposals follow Transport Secretary Heidi Alexander’s decision on February 27 to reject the airport’s runway plan, despite expressing some support for it. Ms Alexander indicated the airport needed to fully address the Planning Inspectorate’s concerns about potential road congestion.
Gatwick is seeking approval for a £2.5 billion second runway, allowing an additional 100,000 flights per year and almost doubling its passenger capacity to 75 million annually.
The airport has also promised to work closely with train and coach operators, Network Rail and the Department for Transport to raise the percentage of passengers using public transport beyond the current 45 per cent.
A government source described Gatwick's latest submission as "encouraging".
Mr Wingate added: “We’re trying to give the Government a pragmatic, sensible and rational pathway which achieves the objective of reduced road congestion and allows them to support the runway.”
Gatwick, owned by French conglomerate Vinci, has also said it would accept reducing the expanded airport’s noise footprint from 135 sq km to 125 sq km, but asked for further evidence to justify tighter restrictions that could limit its use of larger planes.
A public consultation will be launched, with the Government set to reach a final decision by October.
