airport expansion
Posted by jossc — 16 September 2008 at 12:10pm
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The battle to win hearts and minds on the critical airport expansion issue continues apace. The latest group to take the field is in Manchester, where a flashmob is being organised to protest against the expansion of Heathrow, Manchester and all UK airports.
It's being called to coincide with the Labour Party Conference in Manchester and, in true flashmob fashion, will mysteriously manifest in Albert Square outside Manchester Town Hall on Tuesday 23rd September at 12.45pm sharp!
Posted by jossc — 4 September 2008 at 3:21pm
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News just in from Carol of the Airportwatch/Stop Stansted Expansion group of skullduggery afoot by airport owners BAA to influence their application to build a second runway there. Apparently BAA has recently resorted to 'encouraging' not only its own staff members, but also those of its many suppliers, to write in to the local Uttlesford District Council in support of its new runway proposal.
Posted by bex — 23 May 2008 at 9:00am
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Actor Rula Lenska and journalist Rosie Boycott join other celeb mums in a vigil against Heathrow expansion in Parliament Square
As the date for the government's decision on Heathrow's third runway hurtles towards us (they'll be deciding in June or July, we think), a whole gamut of voices has been speaking out against the agenda for airport expansion that will destroy our chances of slowing climate change.
At the risk of sounding like a bad joke, an actress and a bishop (OK then, an archbishop) have both joined the fray, along with several celebrity mums and the head of the Sustainable Development Commission. Eclectic, eh? They're all calling on the government to shelve its plans for airport expansion.
Posted by bex — 27 March 2008 at 12:03pm
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Flashmob at Heathrow's Terminal 5 this morning
This morning saw the opening of Heathrow's new Terminal 5 to the public. Unfortunately for the aviation industry and government - who wanted this to be a chance to promote their case for airport expansion - a large section of that public is vehemently opposed to unsustainable aviation growth, and not afraid to show it.
So at exactly 11am this morning, hundreds of people stripped down to reveal identical "Stop Airport Expansion T-shirts", and to highlight
the problems caused by airport expansion and unsustainable aviation growth. Pictures of the flashmob are coming in to our Moblog thick and fast. Scroll to the bottom of the page to see video footage of the event.
Posted by bex — 14 March 2008 at 5:30pm
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Last edited 14 March 2008 at 11:56am
Reacting to the opening of Terminal
5 at Heathrow airport, Greenpeace senior transport campaigner Anita Goldsmith said:
"Terminal Five stands as a monument
to the binge-flying culture this government has done so much to encourage. It's
part of an obsession with expansion which can only mean more flights, more
emissions and more climate change."
Posted by bex — 11 March 2008 at 5:04pm
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You'd
think being slammed for bad
science, government
collusion and involvement in reverse
engineering a consultation in the space of a fortnight would be enough to give
a company pause for thought.
Not BAA, who have just submitted an
application to build a second runway at Stansted. The runway would add the
equivalent of 11 million tonnes of CO2 to the UK's annual carbon footprint, bulldoze a thousand acres of countryside and
make Stansted bigger than Heathrow is today.
Last edited 11 March 2008 at 2:27pm
Responding to BAA's submission of a planning application for a second runway at Stansted airport, Anna Jones, Greenpeace Aviation campaigner said:
"Whatever their executives might say, BAA's dangerous expansion plans smack of growth at any cost. Doubling the number of flights from Stansted and Heathrow at a time when the scientists are telling us we need to urgently slash our emissions is madness. The company will find a passionate majority of people who are ready to fight this runway, for the sake of the local area and their children's future.
Posted by bex — 28 February 2008 at 6:35pm
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Out and about on our Heathrow Voices tour last year.
If you're one of the many, many thousands of people involved in the opposition to Heathrow expansion, you may want to give yourself a pat on the back. The day after the 'consultation' closed, there's news that we're getting the message through to 'the highest levels of Labour'.
In one of two Heathrow stories in today's Evening Standard, the paper's chief political correspondent wrote:
Ministers are under increasing pressure to rethink plans for Heathrow expansion after 18,000 people lodged objections to the plans.
The scale of the protest is understood to have taken the government by surprise and is causing concern at the highest levels of Labour at the political fall-out if plans for a third runway are given the go-ahead.
Posted by jossc — 14 February 2008 at 1:34pm
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A new report published today undermines the economic case for building a third runway at Heathrow Airport. It shows that the Department for Transport (DfT) based part of its case for expansion on an Oxford Economic Forecasting (OEF) study commissioned by BAA, the company who own and manage Heathrow.
Unsurprisingly, the BAA funded study over- estimates the benefits of a third runway, assuming it would generate an extra 3 million business passengers contributing £400 each to the UK economy (making it worth £5billion over 70 years) - the DfT's original estimate was for half a million new business passengers spending around £120 each.