EAST Surrey MP Sam Gyimah has called on Gatwick to come clean over controversial flight path changes – accusing airport bosses of trying to "kick [the issue] into the long grass".
Residents in Mr Gyimah's constituency are among thousands of people affected by the changes since the precision navigation (PR-Nav) system was brought in.
The new system means planes fly in narrower corridors resulting in more planes flying over a smaller area.
But this change was met with outcry when one departure route – RWY26 – was also shifted north, thereby sending flights over residents in Reigate, Redhill and Bletchingley.
In December, Gatwick bosses agreed to review the flightpath change.
But in an exclusive interview with the Mirror, Mr Gyimah has accused Gatwick of trying to duck the issue by promising a review without any specifics.
He said: "I think Gatwick have mentioned a review as a way of kicking this into the long grass. But we will not let them kick it into the long grass, we are going to hold them responsible for it."
He added: "The first bugbear I have with Gatwick, and my constituents have with Gatwick, is that it is being a negligent neighbour and that is contrary to the way it tries to present itself. I'm deeply unhappy about that."
The MP, who will stand for re-election in East Surrey later this year, says he has written to Gatwick chief executive Stewart Wingate asking for specifics on where and when the review will take place, but claims he has not had a satisfactory response.
He told the Mirror: "Gatwick has tried to hide, from what I can see, behind the Government and behind the CAA [Civil Aviation Authority] when actually they are responsible for implementing this precision navigation system on all their departing flights."
Mr Gyimah added: "Gatwick has, I believe, a duty to respond positively to the complaints of how aggravating PR-Nav is for constituents, rather than try to duck the issue
"When I say 'duck the issue', I wrote to Stewart Wingate. I got a reply saying they were going to review it. It was a weasley reply.
"It didn't give any specifics of when the review was going to take place, what the review was going to be and when we could expect some sort of result and if there was going to be any sort of change as a result of this review."
Mr Gyimah said he has now asked for a meeting with Mr Wingate to discuss the issue.
Gatwick spokesman Grant Payne said: "The CAA have not yet set a timetable for their post implementation review of flightpath changes but Gatwick and our design teams are continuing to look at this issue in depth."
He said the airport will await the CAA's response before setting a timetable for any action they may take.
For more from Mr Gyimah's interview, including why he believes Gatwick is being a "bad neighbour" and what he wants to see done, see next week's edition.
