Crawley Borough Council, on behalf of 10 local authorities, has successfully bid for money to support its work in responding to Gatwick Airport’s proposal to bring its northern runway into routine use.

The council has secured £90,000 from the government’s Innovation and Capacity Fund to appoint a range of specialist consultant support to work with councils in the area.

The consultants’ work will assess the environmental, economic and social impacts and identify effective mitigations, which would ensure that communities surrounding the airport are protected from the adverse impacts.

Gatwick Airport intends to submit its Development Consent Order (DCO) application to the Planning Inspectorate early next year.