Heathrow Expansion Lobby Group

A new campaign group has been launched to promote the expansion of Heathrow airport. It is lead by former West London Labour MP, Clive Soley. Expansion of Heathrow will mean more harmful air pollution and more noise will be imposed on local communities and an increase in climate change emissions. Clive Soley has betrayed the people of West London.

See below for our press release. See end of page for related links including a summary of the political parties' positions. on Heathrow expansion.

Press Release (May 05)

'Future Heathrow': Lobby Group Promotes Future Air Pollution and Climate Change

A new campaign to promote the expansion of Heathrow airport will result in more harmful air pollution and add to climate change, Friends of the Earth warned today.

The 'Future Heathrow' campaign lobby group will be launched today (23/5/05) at Centrepoint in London and lead by former West London Labour MP, Clive Soley [note 10, below]. The group claims that the controversial third runway must be built or the airport will decline and West London will suffer mass unemployment and economic decline as a result [1]. Mr Soley has previously called for the Government to 'take a more sustainable view of aviation by managing demand' [2].

Soley's vision

Expansion of Heathrow will mean more harmful air pollution will be imposed on local communities and an increase in climate change emissions in direct conflict with the Government's policies to tackle what Tony Blair calls:- "the worlds greatest environmental challenge" [3]

More air pollution

West London residents already breathe air that breaches European health limits on Nitrogen Dioxide pollution [4]. The Government predicts that with a 3rd runway 35,000 people could be breathing air that breaches these limits by 2015 and that some people would still breathe air over the limit even if it is assumed that:-

• There is no road traffic increase over current levels on the nearby M4 and M4 link road
• A £20 congestion charge is introduced
• A 3mile long tunnel with 100% effective Nitrogen 'scrubbing' vent stacks is built over the M4 between junctions 3 and 4a over the M4

More climate change

Aviation is the fastest growing source of climate change causing gases. A 3rd Runway at Heathrow will allow an increase in flights from 480,000 a year to 655,000 in 2015 and will therefore increase climate changing emissions. The most important greenhouse which causes climate change is carbon dioxide,CO2. Heathrow already contributes about 11 million tonnes pa.

Last year the Parliamentary Environmental Audit Committee said that

• " .. if aviation emissions increase on the scale predicted by the Government, the UK's 60% carbon emission reduction target (by 2050) will become meaningless and unachievable."
• 5 or 6 of the top ten destinations served by Heathrow could be (or already are) served by high speed rail services rather than air. [6]
• A plane pumps out eight times more carbon dioxide per passenger than a modern electric train on a journey from London to Edinburgh. [7]

Questionable economics

The aviation industry in the UK currently receives an effective subsidy of £9 billion pa in the form of tax exemptions. Heathrow's share of these tax exemptions is about over £3.5 billion pa. If this subsidy were removed then demand would increase more slowly and no new runways would be necessary before 2030. [8]

The Future Heathrow group claims that the lack of a 3rd runway would lead to huge unemployment is challenged by the Government's forecasts which show a small decline in employment at Heathrow without a 3rd runway but adds that:- "further expansion at Heathrow is limited by low unemployment levels and strong competition for labour from other firms in the Western Policy Area" [9]

Nic Ferriday, spokesperson for West London Friends of the Earth commented "The Future Heathrow group is indulging in irresponsible scaremongering about the economics whilst ignoring the impacts a third runway would have on local communities and global climate change. By leading this group, Mr Soley has abandoned his commitment to a more sustainable aviation policy and the health interests of his former constituents. He has betrayed everyone living in West London.

Richard Dyer, Aviation Campaigner for national Friends of the Earth, added "The argument shouldn't be about whether expansion goes to Heathrow or Frankfurt. We simply can't allow any new runways in Europe if we are serious about tackling climate change. Governments and the EU need to take action now to cut the rapid and unsustainable growth in flights".

Notes

[1] Claims attributed to Clive Soley in article 'Peer will lead push to enlarge Heathrow' The Times, Fri 6th May 2005

[2] Mr Soley signed Parliamentary Early Day Motion 1795 in 2003 which objected to a proposed new airport at Cliffe in Kent and called for a more sustainable view of aviation see:- http://edm.ais.co.uk/weblink/html/member.html/EDMI_SES=02/mem=SoleySlAsHcOdEsTrInGClive/log=1/pos=33.

[3] PM speech on climate change 14/9/2004

[4] 2010 EU mandatory limit will be 40microgrammes of Nitrogen Dioxide per m3

[5] Department for Transport - Air Quality Assessments Supporting the Government's White Paper 'The Future of Air Transport' 2003, see:- http://www.dft.gov.uk/stellent/groups/dft_aviation/documents/page/dft_aviation_031849.pdf.

[7] Department for Transport / National Atmospheric Inventory 2004

[8] 'SPASM' computer forecasting model re-run 2003 see 'Hidden cost of flying' Brendon Sewill at:- http://www.aef.org.uk/downloads/HiddenCost.pdf (large PDF file).

[9] para 7.33 from The Future Development of Air Transport in the UK: South East - DfT Feb 2003 see:- http://www.dft.gov.uk/stellent/groups/dft_aviation/documents/page/dft_aviation_025935.pdf (large PDF file).

[10] Clive Soley was MP for Ealing, Acton & Shepherd's Bush and is now a Labour peer.

Links to Related Pages

May 05