 On 5 December 1971 a demonstration by 1,500 residents disrupted traffic on the main London to Brighton road at the proposed boundary.On 27 January 1972, Michael Heseltine, Under-Secretary of State for the Environment, stated that the transfer of the airport would go ahead, but that the question of whether the two villages would remain in Surrey was not finally decided.Surrey County Council's proposed amendments to keep Gatwick within the county were rejected by the House of Commons in July 1972, but the council decided to take its case to the House of Lords.