I’m taking a risk with this blog. So often campaigners are dismissed as NIMBYs. And I’ve been campaigning for over 30 years.
The blog was prompted by this news story from India. There are big local protests in Kerala, in the south west of India, against there are plans by a private company to build a large new airport, for low cost airlines, at Aranmula. The site is within 100 km of two international airports – at Kochi and Thiruvananthapuram. These airports bring in tourists to Kerala, and it is intended that it brings in pilgrims to a nearby site. The land at Aranmula is greenfield, and there are plans to take at least 350 acres, and perhaps much more for an aerotropolis. Local people fear it could destroy paddy
land and damage the region’s water source.
