Actors, political party leaders, local residents and the Poet Laureate are planting an apple orchard on the site of Heathrow's proposed third runway to show their opposition to expansion at the airport.
Gavin and Stacey actress Alison Steadman, Richard Briers from the Good Life, Nick Clegg and poet CarolAnn Duffy will be on the runway site today (Friday) at noon to dig the orchard, while Heathrow writer-in-residence Alain de Botton - who was famously recruited by BAA to spend a week at the airport and write about his experiences - is adopting a Cox apple tree in the orchard. Conservative leader David Cameron is also adopting a tree.
The planting of the orchard represents the re-introduction of the Cox apple breed into the area and is designed to act as a potent symbol of the determination by politicians and the local community to stop the runway, save Sipson's homes and school and fight climate change. The Cox apple was first bred in the borough in the 1850s by Richard Cox, who is buried on the site earmarked for a new runway and whose body might still be exhumed if the development goes ahead.
The high-profile orchard planters are being joined by the Woodland Trust, RSPB, WWF, the World Development Movement and other groups representing millions of members and supporters. The orchard is being planted on the third runway site on land purchased by Greenpeace from under the noses of BAA and the Government earlier this year. The plot was then offered to members of the public. 60,000 people from across the world now co-own the land targeted by BAA's bulldozers.
Commenting on the ‘orchard of resistance', Heathrow writer-in-residence Alain de Botton said:
"I'm sponsoring a tree in the orchard because I love airports and air travel, and recognise that if our society is to tolerate them, we are all going to have to learn to fly a lot less. Also, apple trees, through their slow gestation and their Biblical associations, subliminally carry fascinating associations of both paradise and danger."
A tree has been adopted by Labour MPs, by David Cameron and Conservative MPs and another by Lib Dem leader Nick Clegg and his MPs. A tree has been adopted by leading climate scientists, and by Government advisors - including the former head of the Sustainable Development Commission, Jonathan Porritt.
Liberal Democrat Leader Nick Clegg said:
"The Government is absolutely wrong to stubbornly push ahead with a third runway at Heathrow. How can Gordon Brown go to Copenhagen and credibly call for big reductions in carbon when he has such a dire environmental track record at home? A third runway at Heathrow would be a disaster for the local area as well as a disaster for the whole country."
Alison Steadman said:
"We're re-introducing Cox apple trees to this village and building a bridge between the past and the future, because this community will have a future. BAA and the Government now know that if they try to build this new runway they will have to dig up trees owned by and on behalf of millions of people from every area of British society. Some of those people will be there to stand in front of the bulldozers if they ever roll into the new orchard. The third runway cannot and will not be built. Richard Cox may face the prospect of his body being dug up to build the new runway, but his famous apple is now standing in the way of BAA and the Government."
An expanded Heathrow would become the single biggest source of CO2 in Britain and threaten what chance the UK has of slashing its emissions and playing its part in beating climate change.
Over the next few months Cox apple trees are going to be planted in communities across the country and twinned with the orchard in Sipson. MPs of all shades will be invited to join planting ceremonies.
Poet Laureate Carol Ann Duffy's poem Mrs Scrooge - which is published in book form on November 24th - predicts the demise of the third runway as the Ghost of Christmas Past visits the orchards of Sipson:
"Scrooge sends a
message from the grave -
keep going! You shall overcome!"
"No Runway
Three!" cried Mrs Scrooge
The orchard plot is behind the William IV pub in Sipson, on the junction of Harmondsworth Lane and Sipson Road. Greenpeace will be on hand to welcome the media from with coffee and pastries from 11.30am.
ENDS
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Greenpeace press office - 0207 865 8255 / 07801 212967
Nikki Williams, Head of Campaigning at the Woodland Trust:
"The Woodland Trust supports Greenpeace in choosing a more sensitive use of this land than the fate it will face if BAA expand. What with important and ancient trees at Heathrow, entire ancient woods at Stansted, plus acres of woodland at risk through other regional expansion plans, Government's support for unremitting aviation expansion not only threatens ancient woodland all across the UK overall, but also negates our climate change commitments - increasing the potential for more long-term risk to already vulnerable habitats."
Speaking on behalf of the 2M Group of London councils, Cllr Peter Thompson, leader of Hounslow Council, said:
"Gardeners know that pleasure comes not from the final results of sowing and planting, but from the joy of watching a seed or sapling grow into something in perfect harmony with its surroundings. Heathrow has become the intrusive shrub from a neighbour's garden - acceptable when properly maintained, but if left to its own devices a damaging nuisance that needs cutting back. This orchard shows that millions of people have had enough and think it's time to reach for the secateurs."
