Airport White Paper Progress Report; Don’t Panic and Don’t Give Up

Most people will have seen in the media that the Government yesterday published its progress report on the implementation of its 2003 airport white paper. In the progress report the Government has simply confirmed its original decision that it supports a third runway at Heathrow and a new runway at Stanstead if the environmental issues, particularly about air and noise pollution can be overcome.

This is nothing new and the detailed work on assessinng whether the environmental impact can be overcome is continuing and will be reported next year when a full consultaion will commence.

Nevertheless it is an absolute disgrace that the Government did not use this opportunity to rule out a third runway at Heathrow once and for all. Only two weeks ago the Chancellor of the Exchequer published the Stern report into climate change, which made it abundantly clear that urgent action was needed to reduce carbon emissions.

If the Government was serious about tackling climate change the findings of this report should have prompted an immediate statement halting any further expansion at Heathrow. Instead Blair, Brown and Transport Minister Douglas Alexander have followed slavishly the demands of their big businness friends in the aviation industry and are continuing to press for airport expansion.

However they know that the scientific analysis of the third runway plan is demonstrating that the airport industry cannot overcome the problems of air pollution. The assessment of the air pollution resulting from a third runway was meant to be completed by now but has been delayed until next year.

We must continue our campaign to expose the implications of the third runway and airport expansion. All the environmental arguments are going our way and the Government and aviation industry are increasingly isolated as the world wakes up to the threat to the environment and our planet by air travel.

To all of those concerned about Heathrow expansion and to all local campaigners I say “Don’t panic and keep campaigning. The real battle is only just begining.”

submitted by John on 15 Dec 2006 at 08:23