transport
Posted by jamie — 22 October 2009 at 2:28pm
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Gatwick will shortly have a new owner. BAA is
selling the airport for much less than it originally hoped in order to reduce
the company's debt. But the new owners have already indicated they intend to
expand Gatwick as soon as possible, including a new second runway.
Global Infrastructure Partners, which has paid
much less than BAA wanted, want to give Gatwick a major make-over, including a
second runway. An injunction prevents them from doing this until 2019 at the
earliest, but GIP has suggested it will get planning applications sorted so a
new runway could be built as soon as possible.
Posted by jamie — 13 October 2009 at 4:45pm
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How the Sunday Times reported the story
'BAA
to give up on third runway' ran the headline in this weekend's Sunday Times and
with the recent good news about Kingsnorth delay, there was a moment when I
thought it was my Christmas and birthday presents rolled in to one. But unpick
the details and unfortunately it's not quite the prize it appears to be.
Posted by jamie — 6 October 2009 at 4:39pm
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Some promising news from the Tory party
conference in Manchester,
where they've pledged to dump plans for Heathrow's third runway as part of
their election campaign package. "We are absolutely firm on our opposition
to expansion at Heathrow, Gatwick and Stansted," shadow transport minister
Julian Brazier told the Evening
Standard today. "It will definitely be in the manifesto."
It's great to hear their commitment being
reaffirmed as it shows how isolated the government is on this issue. But
there's a long way to go between promising to include it in the election
manifesto, being able to form a government and then actually getting round to
reversing the decision. Reports from the conference say that the Heathrow
pledge in Theresa Villiers' speech received a polite smattering of applause,
but her promise to crackdown on cowboy clampers roused the audience further
still. Make of that what you will.
Posted by jamie — 22 September 2009 at 1:54pm
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Startling news from Willie Walsh of British
Airways who is preparing to lift the lid on a deal between aviation bosses to
slash their emissions by 50 per cent by 2050. Wow, it seems like magic. Oh
wait, it really does seem like magic
- it's just some shifty sleight of hand as part of a PR offensive to persuade
Copenhagen-bound politicos that airlines really do want to help with climate
change.
Posted by jamie — 26 August 2009 at 12:17pm
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For as long as it's been pushing for an expanded Heathrow, BAA has been making exaggerated claims about the environmental impacts of a third runway. Now they, along with aviation lobbying group Future Heathrow, have been hauled up by the Advertising Standards Authority (ASA) for making "misleading" claims about the levels of dirt, noise and air pollution a new runway will generate.
Posted by jamie — 7 August 2009 at 12:12pm
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After this week's high speed rail blinder, there's more good news on the road towards halting airport expansion. In the lofty legal realms of the High Court, a decision has been made to give the case against a third runway at Heathrow a public hearing. The case is being brought by an unprecedented coalition of groups, including Greenpeace, local councils, CPRE, HACAN, NoTRAG and WWF.
Last edited 6 August 2009 at 11:05am
The government's plans to expand
Heathrow Airport were dealt another blow today following a High Court decision
that a hearing should be held to consider the case against the controversial
decision to build a third runway.
The Judge ruled that the case needed
to be heard in an open court given the significant public interest element and
the need for clarification over the Transport Secretary's statement to
Parliament in January in which he gave the green light to the third
runway.
Posted by jamie — 5 August 2009 at 3:16pm
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When the new Eurostar terminal opened at St Pancras in 2007, we gave it a big thumbs up
In one fell swoop, a massive hole has been
blown in the government's aviation policy. And the person holding the detonator
is not a member of the shadow cabinet or even a group of campaigners, but no lesser
person than the transport secretary Lord Adonis and his plan for a network of
high speed trains for the UK.
Crikey.
Last edited 5 August 2009 at 12:06pm
Commenting on the announcement
by Transport secretary Lord Adonis of a new policy to replace domestic flights
with a high-speed rail network across Britain, Greenpeace transport
campaigner Vicky Wyatt said:
Posted by jamie — 15 July 2009 at 6:20pm
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While today is unlikely to go down in the
annals of history as Green Wednesday, it's still a significant day for those of
us concerned about climate change as climate and energy secretary Ed Miliband
unveils his big energy strategy.
The strategy - the Low Carbon Transition Plan,
no less - comes in the form of not one but a whole ream of papers (including an
energy white paper) covering renewable energy, transport, industry and carbon
budgets. Together, they form a blueprint explaining how the government hopes to
achieve the emissions reductions it's legally obliged to deliver, thanks to the
EU renewable energy targets and the UK's own Climate Change Act.
Was it a red letter day for green energy?
Let's see.