Progress Report: 720 flights using Heathrow each year if a 3rd runway is built
HACAN members plan further direct action training
Douglas Alexander: “A young man trapped in a time-warp of his own making’
Key points:
- Business-as-usual’ report
- Confirms Government’s desire for 3rd runway at Heathrow
- Consultation on ending of runway alternation at Heathrow put back until the Spring
- Economic justification of expansion proposals based on a report commissioned by the aviation industry
- An ‘Emissions Cost Assessment’ introduced
Heathrow campaigners vowed there would be ‘the mother of all battles’ if the Government goes ahead with plans a third runway at Heathrow. They declared that Transport Secretary Douglas Alexander was living in ‘fantasy land’ if he thought he could bulldoze plans for an extra runway through widespread local opposition at a time when climate change was rapidly rising up the political agenda.
As expected, in its Progress Report on the 2003 Aviation White, published today, the Government restated its view that it favoured a third runway at Heathrow if air pollution levels in the area could be kept within the legal limits set by the European Union. In the Spring it expects to publish its two-year study into future levels of air pollution at the airport. The Progress Report made it clear it will not consult on plans to end runway alternation until after that report is published.
The Progress Report confirmed the Government’s intention to press ahead with it national plans to almost treble the number of passengers using UK airports by 2030. There was a small concession to the fact that aviation is the fastest-growing source of human-induced climate change when Alexander announced that he will introduce an Emissions Assessment Cost which ‘will consider whether the aviation sector is meeting its external climate change costs. The Government is expected to consult on the development of this assessment in the first half of 2007.’ But it was not made clear how this Emissions Assessment Cost would affect future Government policy.
There was some surprise that the economic analysis in Progress Report appeared to be based on a study commissioned by the aviation industry and just published a few days ago. It would appear that the Government had had sight of the study carried out by consultants Oxford Economic Forecasting while preparing its Progress Report. Heathrow campaigners expect that MPs will be asking Parliamentary Questions about this.
John Stewart, Chair of Heathrow campaign group HACAN ClearSkies, said, “This progress report has been dictated by the aviation industry and carefully copied down by Douglas Alexander and his faithful sidekick, Aviation Minister Gillian Merron. Alexander has simply failed to acknowledge the contribution of aviation to climate change. He’s a young minister trapped in a time-warp of his own making. He is living in a fantasy land if he thinks he can push through a third runway.
Stewart added, “At Heathrow we can’t wait to take Alexander and Merron on. They will face the mother of all battles. Most of the area’s MPs and all the local authorities and residents’ groups are opposed to further expansion at Heathrow. HACAN members are planning more direct action training sessions next year. And I know we will be joined by young environmentalists from the direct action organisation Plane Stupid who see a 3rd runway at Heathrow as the ‘line in the sand’ in their fight against climate change. Let battle commence!”
ENDS
For more information contact John Stewart on 0207 737 6641 or 07957385650