expansion

Can BAA afford to expand?

By Richard on 23/11/2007
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Dustbowl Heathrow

Could it be that despite the Government's determination to expand Heathrow - regardless of the cost to communities and the climate - that beleagured BAA can't actually afford to build an new tea-shop, let alone a third runway?

International finance analysts Bloomberg noted in response to the 'consultation' that BAA's credit rating was recently down-graded to 'junk' status - i.e. you wouldn't want to lend them a fifty pence for a cup of coffee. Put simply, BAA is broke.

You say consultation. We say sham!

By Richard on 21/11/2007
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Tin of Sham

At a packed meeting yesterday afternoon the combined forces of the anti-Heathrow expansion movement heard something they'd always suspected. The consultation, due out today, will be a sham. The Government has made its mind up; like it or not, Heathow expansion is going ahead.

We had gathered to meet with Aviation Minister Jim Fitzpatrick, in a final face-to-face before the launch of the latest consultation on the third runway. Plane Stupid, of course, was not invited, but I snuck in to hear just what Fitzpatrick (coincidentally also Environment Minister for the Department for Transport) had to say.

Manchester climate debate report

By Robbie on 16/11/2007
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Manchester Climate Forum debate

The 'Great Aviation Debate' in Manchester Friends Meeting House took place last Thursday in front of an audience of around 150 people.

We organised the debate after the head honchos at Manchester Airport responsed to our blockade of domestic flights back in October. The airport had slagged us off in the Times, saying:

"We would encourage those groups, including environmental groups, to engage in sensible debate and not pull stunts like this."

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Manchester airport goes 'carbon neutral'... ish

By Richard on 16/11/2007
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Greenwash chart

Pity the bright spark who thought this one up. Manchester Airport has caught the greenwash bug, and announced grand plans to be carbon neutral by 2015. The catch? It's expanding flights by 50% and, quelle surprise, not including emissions from flights in in magic calculations.

Its "ambitious plans" involve using renewable energy to power the terminal, swapping some lightbulbs about and, most excitingly, "All toilets in the terminals will be fitted with movement sensors so the lights go out when not in use"!

Noisy Heathrow in Concorde cover-up

By Richard on 09/11/2007
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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

By Joss on 08/11/2007
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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.

Flights of fancy

By Richard on 01/11/2007
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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?

Government responds to Stern Review and Eddington

By Richard on 30/10/2007
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In a shocking move, the Government has called for an end to all new road building and runway expansion.

Responding to the Stern Review and Eddington Report, Secretary of State for Transport Ruth Kelly said "For too long we've been forced to pretend we can have sustainable transport growth - a policy that's lead to more driving, more flying, more emissions."

"Well those days are over. It's time for a radical rethink of aviation expansion. For the sake of the planet, we're hitting the emergency stop button."

Of course she didn't really say any of that - it's business as usual!

France rules out new roads and runways

By Richard on 26/10/2007
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In typically Gallic style, French President Nicolas Sarkozy declared a "green revolution" yesterday, announcing that there would be no more roads or runways built, alongside the construction of more high-speed rail networks to help shift people out fo the skies and onto the trains.

In a speech which could have come from any number of protest site campfires, Sarkozy called for a "revolution in our way of thinking, in our way of making decisions, a revolution in our way of life".

Will this put a stop to the industry's bleating about how Charles de Gaulle will overtake Heathrow if we don't expand it? Don't hold your breath...

Bristol expansion put on hold

By Richard on 21/10/2007
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Plans to expand Bristol Airport have been put on hold while the airport calculates the impacts of expansion on the environment and local communities.

Airport bosses wanted to submit a planning application to the local council this autumn, but it is now expected that this will happen by the middle of 2008. As with every expansion plan, the airport bosses claim that expansion will only take place if it can be "sustainable"...