Thursday, 22 May 2008
The government should shelve plans to expand Heathrow and Stansted airports, according to the Sustainable Development Commission.The Sustainable Development Commission (SDC), which is chaired by Sir Jonathon Porritt, believes that there were large question marks over plans to expand and warned that the government would face a wave of legal challenges if an independent review of plans to sanction new runways at Heathrow, Stansted and other airports did not take place.
An SDC spokesman said: "A lot of basic data upon which important decisions will be made is heavily contested. Our recommendation is that an independent assessment is undertaken,
“The SDC is not in the business of launching legal challenges, but there may well be other key stakeholders who are.”
The report warns that the ongoing debate over the impact of aviation on environmental and financial factors were "not in the interest of government, the public, or the aviation industry".
Raven went on to criticise economic arguments in favour of airport expansion, stating that the stated financial value of transfer passengers spending a short time in the UK was “fundamentally grey". Despite claims that a third runway at Heathrow would boost the UK economy by an additional £5 billion, the report also placed doubt over the accuracy over the impact of noise and air pollution on communities near airports.
Most importantly, the SDC report demands a review of the government's aviation policy, outlining 4 key areas which need to be addressed, which are to re-examine the economic, social and environmental costs of aviation, to begin talks with the public and "key stakeholders, to recommend changes to the government's aviation white paper (which is in favour of airport expansion) and to encourage action in areas where both sides of the debate agree on a way forward, such as new technologies.
Both the government and BAA have dismissed the SDC report, with BAA fully behind expansion plans at both Stansted and Heathrow. A government statement revealed:
"We fundamentally disagree with the findings of this report. It is simply wrong to claim that there is a consensus that the evidence base is flawed and, as the report admits, the most recently published background data on Heathrow was not even discussed.”
Despite the report, it is expected that the government will give the go-ahead to expansion at Heathrow in the next few months, whilst a decision is due imminently on the case for expansion at Stansted, a catalyst for which the Department for Transport predicts a doubling of air travel in the UK to 465 million passengers per year by 2030.
"We fundamentally disagree with the findings of this report. It is simply wrong to claim that there is a consensus that the evidence base is flawed and, as the report admits, the most recently published background data on Heathrow was not even discussed.”
Despite the report, it is expected that the government will give the go-ahead to expansion at Heathrow in the next few months, whilst a decision is due imminently on the case for expansion at Stansted, a catalyst for which the Department for Transport predicts a doubling of air travel in the UK to 465 million passengers per year by 2030.
