Heathrow expansion - a disaster for the environment

A Plane every 90 seconds.

Local countryside campaigners are up in arms over the Government’s plans for a third runway and sixth terminal at Heathrow Airport, which they say will lower the quality of life of local communities in a large part of West London, Surrey and Berkshire, as well as shattering the UK’s attempts to reduce its carbon emissions.

 

The Surrey Branch of the Campaign to Protect Rural England (CPRE) is currently preparing its detailed response to the public consultation announced last week by the Government, and is urging everyone who cares about the environment to register their objections to the airport expansion proposals. The consultation document is available to the public until February 27, 2008.

 

CPRE is concerned that aircraft noise will become a problem for many more people if the expansion goes ahead. At least 150,000 people will be under the flight path to the new runway, most of them experiencing aircraft noise for the first time. People living under the existing flight paths will have to put up with noise pollution from a plane every 90 seconds virtually throughout the day.
Residents in many towns and villages face the prospect of a substantial increase in numbers of aircraft overhead.

 

The Government wants three runways to be operational at Heathrow from 2020, and has argued that this can be done without breaching air quality limits. It claims that this is due to technological improvements, including cleaner aircraft engines.

CPRE Surrey is countering this argument, pointing out that such a massive expansion of flight operations from 2020, and increased road traffic in the area, both during construction and once operational, will negate any benefits from cleaner technology. If the plans go ahead, the new runway would be 2,500 metres long, to allow both short-haul and long haul aircraft, and would permit up to 702,000 flights per annum (as against 483,000 flights currently).

 

The Climate Change Bill, which had its first reading in the House of Lords last week, sets out the Government’s plans to reduce UK carbon emissions to 60% of 1990 levels by 2050. But, says CPRE, the fastest-growing contributor to climate change – international aviation – is specifically excluded from the target. Aviation already accounts for 6.3% of the UK’s carbon emissions, and its contribution is set to rise dramatically as the sector grows. Without action to tackle emissions, the sector is on course to use up a significant proportion of the UK’s entire carbon budget. CPRE Surrey spokesman Andy Smith commented: “The Government talks about cutting the UK’s carbon emissions and countering global warming, but at the same time backs this unwarranted expansion of Heathrow Airport, which will do untold damage to the environment, reduce air quality and cause misery for many tens of thousands of people under the Heathrow flight paths. “The latest plans for Heathrow blow a hole in the Government’s climate change targets.” 04.12.07