expansion

It’s official now. Whilst BAA are busying themselves with "community consultations" regarding Edinburgh airport expansion, Ryanair have been signing the contracts and smoothing the runways for their expansion in 2008-9. Last week the BBC News reported that Ryanair is investing £70 million in expansion at Edinburgh airport over the coming year.

I imagine the communities around the airport, in the pathway of the runways and the pollution, have been notified. The announcement included the aim of creating 1,200 new jobs. But for those who cringe upon hearing well-rehearsed company lines of ‘economic boost’ without any thought on social and environmental implications these arguments may not sit comfortably. Indeed, for all those who hold any stake in the health of Scotland, what we are left thinking is this:

Taken from Indymedia: Residents from flood stricken areas of Yorkshire and Humberside today blockaded the Government Office in Leeds to protest at its continued promotion of airport expansion. Inspired by last year’s camp for climate action at Heathrow, the protestors from Hull, South Yorkshire and the Calder Valley used pop-up tents to set up camp and blockade the main entrance.

The timing of the protest coincided with the final stages in the adoption of the Regional Spatial Strategy (RSS) – the area’s fifteen year development plan which is currently on the desk of government minister Baroness Andrews, awaiting final approval. The plan allows for a threefold expansion of passenger flights from Yorkshire and Humberside.

Gordon Brown's comment yesterday, upon hearing that five climate activists had taken to the roof of parliament to highlight collusion between BAA and the DfT over the Heathrow third runway 'consultation', could not have been more untrue.

In one sentence he highlighted just how disconnected with the concerns of the general public this government has become - not to mention how little the disenfranchisement of vast swathes of the population, especially the young, means to him. Hearing him say "decisions get made in the chamber of this house [not on the roof]" must have left those millions of Londoners with no means of objecting to a third runway, the great range of councillors and mayoral candidates whose views on the runway have been completely silenced, and the millions of British citizens deeply worried about climate change, screaming in true panto-style: "OHHH no they don't!".

Truly awesome: four Greenpeace climate campaigners have just climbed on top of a Manchester to London plane after it parked at Heathrow Airport’s Terminal One. They are now covering the tailfin with a huge protest banner that reads "CLIMATE EMERGENCY – NO 3rd RUNWAY".

The Greenpeace volunteers – two women and two men – waited until all the passengers had disembarked from the one hour flight before walking through double doors at Terminal One, crossing an area of tarmac and climbing stairs onto the fuselage of the British Airways flight.

Today’s Greenpeace action is truly an inspiration to the movement. The bastards have well and truly raised the bar now. If this keeps up, there's no way this runway will be built. Much love from Plane Stupid!