{"id":984,"date":"2005-08-16T12:00:00","date_gmt":"2005-08-16T12:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/newsite.hacan.org.uk\/?p=984"},"modified":"2019-05-13T18:30:18","modified_gmt":"2019-05-13T18:30:18","slug":"kew-gardens-stays-silent-on-heathrow-expansion","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/hacan.org.uk\/?p=984","title":{"rendered":"Kew Gardens Stays Silent on Heathrow Expansion"},"content":{"rendered":"

<\/p>\n

Kew Gardens Stays Silent on Heathrow Expansion
\nat a time key BAA and BA figures play a leading role in its management<\/p>\n

<\/em><\/p>\n

Pressure Group HACAN ClearSkies has revealed that leading figures from BAA, the owner
\nof Heathrow Airport, and British Airways have got themselves key roles in the management
\nof Kew Gardens, the world-famous Royal Botanic Gardens which lie directly under the flight
\npath, just months before the Government is due to reveal its plans for a big increase of flights
\nover the Gardens. Marcus Agius, the Chairman of BAA, has a key fundraising role for Kew
\nas the Chairman of the Foundation and Friends of Kew. Andrew Cahn, the Director of
\nGovernment and Industry Affairs at British Airways, sits on Kew’s Board of Trustees.<\/p>\n

Kew Gardens has consistently refused to speak out against the expansion of Heathrow. If the
\nGovernment goes ahead with plans to abolish runway alternation, Kew Gardens could be
\nunder the flight path all day long. The Department for Transport is expected to consult on its
\nplans in March next year (1)<\/strong>.<\/p>\n

The role of the Foundation and Friends of Kew (2)<\/strong> is “to provide support for Kew by raising
\nfunds for Kew’s activities”, according to the Kew Garden’s annual report. The report admits
\nthat “financial support through bequests from Friends is becoming an increasingly important
\nsource of income.”<\/p>\n

HACAN Chair John Stewart said, “We are very suspicious about the motives of Marcus
\nAgius and Andrew Cahn. Have they wormed themselves into key positions in order to make
\nsure that Kew Gardens is not critical of plans to expand Heathrow? Certainly, local people
\nare in despair about Kew’s refusal to speak out.”<\/p>\n

ENDS<\/strong><\/p>\n

Notes for Editors:<\/strong><\/p>\n

(1)<\/strong>. At present aircraft landing over West London use one runway until 3pm before switching
\nto the other one in order to give people some relief from the noise. Kew Gardens benefits
\nfrom this. But the Department for Transport is expected put out proposals to public
\nconsultation in March 2006 to end runway alternation.<\/p>\n

(2)<\/strong>. The Kew Gardens 2005 Annual Report describes the Foundation and Friends thus: “The
\nFoundation and Friends of the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew, is a registered charity
\n(registration no. 803428) which is independently administered. Its purpose is to provide
\nsupport for Kew by raising funds for Kew’s activities.” Its membership exceeds 64,000.<\/p>\n

For further information contact:<\/strong><\/p>\n

John Stewart on 0207 737 641 or 07957385650<\/p>\n

Press Release dated 16\/08\/05<\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Kew Gardens Stays Silent on Heathrow Expansion at a time key BAA and BA figures play a leading role in its management Pressure Group HACAN ClearSkies has revealed that leading figures from BAA, the owner of Heathrow Airport, and British Airways have got themselves key roles in the management of Kew Gardens, the world-famous Royal … Continue reading “Kew Gardens Stays Silent on Heathrow Expansion”<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[4,7],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/hacan.org.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/984"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/hacan.org.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/hacan.org.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hacan.org.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hacan.org.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=984"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/hacan.org.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/984\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":5281,"href":"https:\/\/hacan.org.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/984\/revisions\/5281"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/hacan.org.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=984"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hacan.org.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=984"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hacan.org.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=984"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}