Councillors met with Plane Justice in December 2020 to receive an update that Gatwick and NATS have made the relevant filings with AIS regarding the denotification of the Route 4 RNAV SIDs (i.e., the cancellation of the current route). Assuming these are processed correctly (and there is no reason why they shouldn’t be), denotification has taken place and is scheduled for implementation on 25 February 2021 so we should see a return to the original (2012) Route 4 navigation route from this date.

This is tremendous news, and follows 4 ½ years of hard work and support from so many people in the community, so thank you to everyone that has contributed to this worthy and just campaign.

2018 Route 4 ACP

Although this Airspace Change Proposal has been on hold for some time, it was confirmed by Gatwick during a Noise Management Board Public Meeting on the 3rd December that this was likely to be continued after the 25th February enabling them to monitor the reverted flight patterns.

Plane Justice and S&SPC will continue to play an active role as a key community stakeholder ensuring fairness in any future decisions regarding the flight patterns of Route 4.

The Parish Council had previously pledged £7,500 to support Plane Justice (having made financial donations to date of £10,000). Council agreed to retain the pledge of £7,500 for these new JR matters and made the donation of £5,000 immediately with the pledge of a further £2,500 if needed. A further £1,000 was paid to Plane Justice in January 2021.

The bulk of Route 4 after the turn is in our parish which is why we support PJs’ efforts and this financial support serves the purpose of getting Route 4 back to the legacy position.