Noisy Heathrow in Concorde cover-up

What a surprise. The findings of long-awaited release of the ANASE report, exploring the noise from Heathrow airport, has been rejected by the Government as, apparently, it "does not give us the robust figures on which it would be safe to change policy".

The Government has said that expansion at Heathrow can only take place if it can be done without increaseing the number of people affected by aircraft noise. As more planes from more runways is pretty dammed likely to cause more noise, the DfT has started playing silly buggers with the measuring.

Greenpeace Heathrow campaign takes to the road

A silver Airstream ‘campaign plane’ embarked on a month-long tour of London and the Thames Valley yesterday morning to record the voices of people opposed to expansion at Heathrow. The trailer tour will land across the capital as the government prepares to launch a consultation into plans for a third runway at the airport.

Thousands of Londoners’ voices will be collected during the tour and computer-digitised then blared through loud-speakers at representatives of the aviation industry and government – reversing the noise experienced daily by millions of people living under Heathrow’s flightpaths.

Dear Plane Stupid, volume one

As radical and outspoken opponents of airport expansion, we occasionally recieve illiterate and ill-thought out rants accusing us of being facists or communists (and everything in between). However every now and then we get an email which makes us stop and think, and this is one of them.

Dear Plane Stupid,

I'm constantly inspired by the brave actions which continue to bring public attention to the madness of airport expansion. You are an example to us all! However, I’m not so sure about all your policies. On a few major issues, you simply aren't being radical enough.

Greenwash my jets, Branson tells students

Richard Branson, part-time eco-warrior, part-time carbon criminal, spent today opening a new university and asking students to help him 'think green'. Branson wants students to pitch into his efforts to reduce the emissions from his growing fleet of trans-Atlantic aircraft.

"Among ideas the entrepreneur is inviting undergraduates to consider are lightweight seat to improve fuel efficiency, Virgin Atlantic uniforms made from recycled materials and energy efficient facilities at airport terminals."

Our spy-in-the-sky reports that Mr. Branson's suggestions met with hushed giggles from the students, who pointed out that grounding Virgin aircraft and stopping plans for space tourism might do more for reducing emissions than dressing trolley dolleys in costumes made from old duty-free bottles.

Flights of fancy

Call me a cynic, but I'm willing to bet the upcoming consultations on expanding Heathrow airport don't halt the government's madcap plans to lay tarmac all over west London. It's not that I don't trust the public to make the "right" decision; more that whenever the aviation industry asks the questions it gets the result it wanted, even if it contradicts every other survey.

Pro-expansion lobby group Future Heathrow recently published a Populus survey which shows surprising support for Heathrow expansion. They polled 1,000 residents from the west London boroughs that comprise the 2M group, and discovered 56% supported ending runway alternation (switching the runway used for take-offs at 3pm, to give locals respite from aircraft noise). This contradicted last year's ICM poll by the Mayor of London, which found only 26% supported ending alternation. Begging the question: why did the industry survey get the results it did?

Flying Matters: who is Bella Regazza?

Cookie Jar

"Its always a sign that someone is losing an argument when they start making unfounded allegations." So says our arch-nemesis Flying Matters, accusing us of lying to the Times, which last week published an article claiming that they were spying on us.

Only problem is that we caught them at it. Earlier this week FM Director Michelle Di Leo sent an email to the administrator of an aviation campaigners discussion list, pretending to be an Italian campaigner against airport expansion. Calling herself 'Bella Regazza', she asked to be included in the mailing list.