Living under Gatwick’s flight path is torture – it’s about to get worse

As a local resident, I know the infrastructure for another Gatwick runway simply is not there (Picture: Liz Lockwood)

When a plane goes over my house in the village of Lingfield, near Gatwick, everything stops. 

If I’m in the garden having a conversation, or on the phone, I can’t hear what’s being said. Indoors, I can’t hear the TV. I lose my train of thought. Conversely, when clusters of planes go over at night, they wake me up, they wake up my dogs, and I can’t get back to sleep.

This summer, I noticed a real impact on my mental health; my friends said I should go to the doctor but I know what I really need is a good night’s sleep. 

Lingfield is about eight miles from Gatwick as the crow flies. There is a delicate balance between the needs and benefits of the airport and the roughly 3,000 residents of our tiny village.

At the moment, the traffic is nightmarish, the local trains are at capacity and the noise feels ever-present – but that balance is just about acceptable.

However, if the proposed second runway at Gatwick goes ahead, and transport secretary Heidi Alexander has just this week approved plans for it to do so, that balance will tip too much in favour of the airport – and it will be unbearable. 

I bought my last house specifically to not be under the Gatwick flight path. When my now ex-husband and I first moved to the area, we bought in the one remaining triangle in Surrey where there were no flyovers. 

Then in 2014, the flight paths changed. So when I came to move in 2019, I didn’t want to fall into the same trap, seeking out a ‘quiet’ area, only to have to have the rug pulled from right under me. Better the devil you know. 

Gatwick Airport’s expansion plan is going full steam ahead (Picture: Gatwick Airport) I bought my house specifically to not be under the Gatwick flight path (Picture: Getty Images)

So I bought this house knowing full well I would be living with noise, and I did know that Gatwick were proposing flight path changes and hoped to bring its standby runway into use, but I honestly thought the government would deny their plans. 

After all, I didn’t think my village and the neighbouring area would be able to deal with the demands on infrastructure; I didn’t think they’d allow local residents like me to be exposed to more noise, more pollution and more congestion. 

As part of its bid to get a second runway approved, residents impacted by new noise can ask Gatwick to provide triple glazing.

I’m not sure what difference that will make because the noise doesn’t just come through the windows – it comes through your roof, it comes down your chimney. I don’t feel listened to. 

We’ve also been told that those of us who choose to sell can have our stamp duty and reasonable moving costs paid by Gatwick, as well as estate agent fees of up to 1% of the purchase price. 

It’s not enough. 

The plane noise doesn’t just come through the windows – it comes through your roof, it comes down your chimney (Picture: Getty Images)

There is no doubt that my house price will be affected. I had a little inheritance, and when I divorced, I used the bulk of that money on my property. 

It’s a modest three-bed semi-detached but it is my pension nest egg and my plan was to downsize or sell it and use the value to pay for my nursing care as I need it. 

I was relying on this house holding its value. Now, for the next five years, until the second runway is up and running by and we know what the impact will be of the noise and congestion, I believe my house is pretty much unsellable.

I want to stay here – I don’t want to have to go too far from my family and friends, which is why I bought in the first place.

I fear that I will be forced to leave because the only way I will be able to afford to release the capital for my care is to move completely out of the area to somewhere much, much cheaper. That’s a very depressing thing to have looming over me. 

I want to stay here – I don’t want to have to go too far from my family and friends (Picture: Liz Lockwood)

Until then, I feel like I have no choice but to live with the consequences of this decision. 

Gatwick has also agreed to terms for additional passengers to be ferried to and fro on public transport. As a local resident, I know the infrastructure simply is not there – and it cannot sustain an increase. 

The trains are full, the lines are full; the Gatwick express does not run all night and is unreliable at best. For a long time, my ex-husband commuted to London every day by train, and there would be so many times his journey was canceled, or he would get on one of the first trains of the day to find all the seats were taken. 

I’ve gone past the anger (Picture: Gareth Fuller/PA Wire)

I really feel sorry for anyone who relies on the train to get to and from work or to school.

As well as passengers, a second runway will require more workers as well as deliveries of goods and supplies – and all of that is going to have to go on the roads in an area where the traffic is already at nightmarish levels. 

Currently, I plan my journeys around rush hours because if there is a problem on the local motorway, Lingfield can end up with the overflow and it can take up to 20 minutes to travel a couple of hundred yards. 

My concern is that we’ll get wear and tear on the roads, which the local authorities will pay for, and it’s me, the council taxpayer, that pays the local authorities. 

If the proposed second runway at Gatwick goes ahed, it will be unbearable (Picture: Liz Lockwood)

I’ve gone past the anger; what I mainly feel now is disappointment. I am dejected and disillusioned. I’ve never voted Labour in my life, but they got into power on the promise that they were on the side of the ordinary working person.

I worked hard as a teacher for 30 years, first in London comprehensive schools working with some of the most underprivileged and disadvantaged children in the country, then with youngsters with epilepsy and other learning and physical difficulties. And actually, my life is being made an awful lot worse. 

There is an element of hope. I am part of the Communities Against Gatwick Noise Emissions (CAGNE), a campaign group that uses well-grounded, reliable research to work with – and often against – Gatwick to try and make life better for everyone. 

The absolute final decision on the second runway is yet to be made and we have incredibly knowledgeable expert advisors and barristers who have led the way in making objections. Their advice is that a judicial review into the government’s decision is valid and worth pursuing. 

I don’t want to stop people from flying and it’s great that people are taking holidays. But I share CAGNE’s view that Gatwick and the government haven’t gone far enough in considering environmental and social issues for people in the south east. 

I am very much a person who thinks that if something is done wrong, it should be made right.

As told to Rosy Edwards.

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