Gatwick Northern Runway given final legal clearance after appeal court challenge rejected

London Gatwick Airport’s £2.2bn Northern Runway project can move into its design and delivery phase after the Court of Appeal rejected the final legal challenges against the scheme.

image: London Gatwick Airport

The decision earlier this month brings to a close the latest stage of an eight-year planning and legal process over proposals to enable Gatwick’s existing northern standby runway to be used routinely alongside its main runway.

The Court of Appeal refused permission for campaigners to appeal a June High Court judgment, which had dismissed challenges brought by Communities Against Gatwick Noise Emissions (CAGNE) and local resident Peter Barclay against the Government’s decision to grant development consent.

The High Court had concluded that Transport Secretary Heidi Alexander’s September 2025 decision was lawful, rejecting arguments that the Government had failed adequately to assess the project’s climate impacts and other environmental considerations.

The Court of Appeal subsequently rejected the applications to take the cases further, removing the final legal obstacle to the project.

Gatwick’s Northern Runway scheme involves moving the existing northern runway 12m north and extending and modifying it so that the airport can operate two runways simultaneously. Associated works include changes to taxiways, terminal facilities, aircraft stands, roads and other airport infrastructure.

Under the approved scheme, the northern runway would primarily be used for departures by smaller aircraft, while the main runway would continue to handle larger departures and all arrivals.

The project was granted development consent in September 2025 following a six-month examination by the Planning Inspectorate. The consent provides for Gatwick to increase capacity to up to 80m passengers a year.

Gatwick has said the project could enable around 100,000 additional flights a year and support a substantial increase in passenger numbers. The airport expects the Northern Runway to become operational around 2030, with other elements of the development continuing thereafter.

Pierre-Hugues Schmit, Chief Executive of London Gatwick, said the Court of Appeal decision confirmed that the Government’s approval had been made lawfully.

“Today's Court of Appeal decision to comprehensively reject the legal challenges brought by the two campaign groups opposing London Gatwick’s Northern Runway Project, confirms, yet again, that the September 2025 decision by the Secretary of State for Transport to approve the Northern Runway Project was taken properly and lawfully,” he said.

“We are also very pleased that this ruling, from senior Court of Appeal Judges, brings to an end an eight-year planning and legal process which has carefully tested and scrutinised every aspect of our expansion plans on multiple occasions.”

Schmit said the project would bring economic benefits through increased aviation capacity, business activity, tourism and trade.

“The Northern Runway project will deliver significant business, tourism and trade benefits for the UK, including 14,000 new jobs, a £1bn boost to the economy every year and a comprehensive employment, skills and business strategy designed to bring maximum benefits to local people and the Gatwick region,” he said.

He added, “This final ruling means that we can now press on with the important job of bringing this exciting project to life and move forward into the design and delivery phase.

“We would like to thank everyone who has supported our planning application through the various stages and will announce further details in due course.”

The decision follows a lengthy planning process that began before the formal development consent application was submitted in July 2023. The application was examined between February and August 2024, with the examining authority subsequently making recommendations to the Secretary of State.

With the legal process now concluded, Gatwick is expected to progress detailed design and construction planning for the Northern Runway and associated infrastructure.