T
he
July AirportWatch bulletin is now at
AirportWatch bulletin for July
2015
Since the June bulletin, the
Airports Commission has made its recommendation - and
come out unequivocally backing the north-west runway
option at Heathrow. Many had thought the decision
might be a little more ambivalent, but although the
Commission believed a Gatwick runway would provide far
less in terms of national benefit, it did not entirely
rule it out.
The Commission recommended a series
of conditions on a Heathrow runway, to slightly lessen
its impact. One of these conditions is that there should
be six and a half hours without night flights, (11.30pm
to 6am) - Heathrow airport has already said it is not
happy to accept that restriction. Another
condition is there should be a legal agreement that
Heathrow could never build a 4th runway - and even
though such an agreement could not be guaranteed,
Heathrow is saying it is not happy with it.
Neither is Heathrow happy with paying the £5 billion it
would take for work to roads, such as tunnelling the M25
- for the runway to be over the top of it. There is more
on all these points in the bulletin.
Gatwick
airport has complained that the Airports Commission's
analysis was biased, and that it "falls short of [being
thorough, balanced, fair and well evidenced] in a number
of very important respects." Whether the
report was unbiased and independent remains a matter of
opinion. However, some eyebrows have been raised by the
revelation that Sir Howard Davies only resigned as
advisor to the GIC, which owns 11.2% of Heathrow Airport
Holdings, in 2012. Link "In
2009 Davies was appointed as advisor to the Investment
Strategy Committee of the Government Investment
Corporation of Singapore. Two years later he joined its
International Advisory Board. Davies resigned from both
positions in September 2012, on appointment to the chair
of the Airports Commission."
Link.
The airline group, IAG, which owns British Airways, has
almost
50% of the slots at Heathrow. Sir
Howard Davies only
sold his 275 shares in IAG in
November 2013, just before the Interim Report was
produced, recommending two runway options at Heathrow to
be short-listed.
The
Secretary of State for Transport, Patrick McLoughlin,
has indicated that the government will make a statement
on the runway proposals in the autumn (probably more
likely in November than September). This
will set out a "clear direction" rather than
making a hard and fast decision on whether to go with a
Heathrow runway. Or maybe Gatwick. That
announcement might even be in December. There is then
likely to be a public consultation by
government.
Meanwhile,
because of the divisions with the Cabinet on a Heathrow
runway, David Cameron has set up a sub-committee [the
Economic Affairs (Airports) sub-committee] to deal with
the issue, which he will chair himself. Members of
the sub-committee include those in favour of a 3rd
Heathrow runway: Chancellor George Osborne,
Business Secretary Sajid Javid, Transport Secretary
Patrick McLoughlin, Environment Secretary Liz Truss (who
in 2012 expressed her wish for a
4th Heathrow
runway), Scotland Secretary David Mundell,
Communities Secretary Greg Clark, Energy Secretary Amber
Rudd, Cabinet Office minister Oliver Letwin and Chief
Whip Mark Harper.
The
Cabinet members opposed to a 3rd Heathrow runway are not
on the sub-committee. These include Justine
Greening, Philip Hammond, Theresa May, Theresa Villiers,
Greg Hands - and even Boris Johnson). Zac
Goldsmith commented (on Twitter) words to the effect
that if PM does not have confidence in his Home
Secretary and Foreign Secretary to make a decision on a
runway, he should sack them.
There have been a
plethora of comments, opinions, assessments, and bits of
lobbying ever since the Airports Commission's
announcement, and this bulletin attempts to capture some
of that. Unfortunately that has made this bulletin
particularly long, but it may be useful to have many
strands of the Heathrow story together in one
place.
Recently, Heathrow decided to send every
MP a goody box, containing a mug, some shortbread and
some chocolate. Just a bit more expense to
add to the £17 million spent on PR so far. That
was the figure several months ago, so it must have
increased since then? The purpose of the
chocolate and the shortbread, along with a letter waxing
lyrical about the importance of a Heathrow runway, was
to show how vital air freight was. Curiously,
choosing two products with very long shelf lives,
(shortbread at least 6 months, chocolate 1 - 2 years) is
a strange way to illustrate how exports of very
non-perishable products from Scotland must be flown to
Heathrow, in order to be flown to the Far East.
Not to mention that, if sea freight is not being
considered, that it might be preferable for the items to
go from a Scottish airport. The photo shows
Caroline Lucas MP with her goody box. Before she
sent it back. [Heathrow would have liked to
send the MPs salmon and langoustines... ].
The
Airports Commission has now ceased to exist. It is not
thought that any legal challenges to it can be made,
both because it has been wound up and because it was an
independent commission and not part of government.
Legal challenges can be made against a government
decision.
The Evening Standard has today released
the findings of a poll by Ipsos Mori that it has
commissioned, into support for a new runway. Details of the Ipsos Mori poll here.
It shows that, having
interviewed 1,026 adults by phone in mid July, 60%
answered YES to the question: "Some people say
that Britain's airport capacity should be increased in
the next few years by either building a new airport or
expanding existing airports. Other people think it
should not be increased in the next few years. Do you
think Britain's airport capacity should or should not be
increased?" 33% said NO, and 7% did not
know. Ipsos Mori note that "Men,
Conservative supporters, private sector workers, those
in the South and the middle classes are most likely to
support further expansion."
The
Ipsos Mori poll shows 39% say that Government
should take into account the impact on the natural
environment as an important consideration when deciding
where a runway should be built. And 30% say noise
pollution should be a key factor, followed by generating
jobs and growth and support from local residents (both
15%). They also show the air pollution a runway causes
as an important consideration for 12% and the impact of
traffic congestion for 11%.
Opposition to the
Heathrow runway plan, not least its impact on the UK's
carbon emissions, is widespread and varied.
Plane Stupid staged a daring
protest, at the end of the northern runway
at Heathrow (deliberately avoiding putting anyone in
danger), and the 13 activists will be in court on 19th
August charged with aggravated trespass. Local
Harmondsworth resident, Neil Keveren - who faces the
loss of his home and the larger part of his village to
the runway - used his van to
block the entrance tunnel to
Heathrow terminals 2 and 3 for 20
minutes. He, like many others, feel they have
little option left other than to break the law in
defence of their communities and homes. Neil's
local MP, John McDonnell, went to court with Neil and
commented that unfortunately is was sometimes necessary
for citizens to act unlawfully in order to defend
democracy. One of the Plane Stupid activists,
asked about their protest said: "I find the whole
idea of direct action and of being arrested very
stressful. But I feel it has to be done."
Another said: "…we are not big corporations, we are not
Boris Johnson, we don‘t have
resources at our
disposal other than our bodies." Some feel the
fight for Harmondsworth and the Heathrow villages may
become like the long battle for
Greenham Common.
Below
are the contents of this bulletin: The July 2015
bulletin
CONTENTSPage
2
- Heathrow 3rd runway unanimously recommended by
Airports Commission, but with conditions
- Government
will make a statement on runway in late autumn, probably
followed by a public consultation
Page 3
-
Cabinet ‘stitch-up’ on Heathrow: Cameron chairing runway
sub-Committee, locking out ministers who oppose 3rd
runway
- Plane Stupid activists invade Heathrow,
locking themselves together, in protest on northern
runway
Page 4
- Protester whose Harmondsworth
home would be destroyed by 3rd runway, blocks Heathrow
tunnel for half an hour
- Villagers turn to civil
disobedience in battle against third runway at
Heathrow
- Air travel makes you happy, says the
Airports Commission. That’s why we need more
runways
Page 5
- NEF says Heathrow runway
might improve well-being for a minority now, at the
expense of reduced well-being for future
generations
- Heathrow rules out paying £5 billion
for road & rail works - wants taxpayer to pay
-
John Holland-Kaye reluctant to accept conditions on
Heathrow runway set by Airports Commission
Page
6
- Heathrow campaigners provide the (suit)case
against the runway, in holiday reading material for
David Cameron
Page 7
- LAANC (Local
Authorities Aircraft Noise Council) to consider legal
action against “biased and flawed” Airports Commission
report
- MP’s Environmental Audit Committee
launch inquiry into Heathrow 3rd runway impacts
-
Murad Qureshi blog: So what does the Competition &
Market Authority (Competition Commission, as was) think
of Heathrow expansion?
Page 8
- Slough Council
secret deal with Heathrow includes gagging order, making
it impotent in fighting for a better deal from Heathrow
for 3 – 4 years
- SNP, which won just 1.45 million
votes in the election, says it will decide the vote on a
SE runway
Page 9
- Grouping of councils
opposed to Heathrow runway call on Government to dismiss
Airports Commission report
- Heathrow gets 270
businesses to ask David Cameron to support building 3rd
runway
- Report finds air pollution kills 9,500
Londoners
Page 10
- Richmond parties unite
to fight “deeply flawed” Heathrow expansion report
-
Surrey County Council leader says Heathrow runway would
require 70,800 new homes and 56 new schools
-
Aviation Environment Federation says Heathrow runway
recommendation is beset with environmental
hurdles
Page 11
- Environmental case for new
Heathrow runway has ‘Airbus-sized holes’ in it
-
“Government airbrushes aviation’s non-CO2 greenhouse gas
emissions” – new report
- Caroline Lucas blog:
“Heathrow might have been his answer, but Davies was
asking the wrong question”
Page 12
- Committee
on Climate Change confirm aviation CO2 must remain
capped – putting new runway into question
- WWF
comment the CO2 problem a new runway would cause
government
- Stansted airport night flight
warning if the flights are banned from
Heathrow
Page 13
- Heathrow, Gatwick and
London City airport community groups united against new
runway decision
- In initial response to Airports
Commission, Gatwick says report wasn’t sufficiently
balanced, fair or well evidenced
Page 14
-
Gatwick now says it will “carry out a fresh review of
the whole situation” on Gatwick westerly arrivals
-
easyJet agrees to bring forward modification of its
A320s using Gatwick, to get rid of the
“whine”
Page 15
- Luton has plans for direct
rail line to cut train journey from central London to 20
minutes
- Prestwick Airport losing still more money –
Scottish Government may have to “lend” up to £25 million
by end of 2016
- Edinburgh Airport’s new TUTUR flight
path trial started 25th June
Page 16
- Leeds
Bradford airport expansion plans need 36.2 hectares of
green belt land owned by Leeds Council
- MEPs demand
end to aviation tax breaks, but fudge investor
protection in trade deal
Page 17
- Treasury
opens consultation on protecting regional airports from
impact of devolving APD
- French court rules against
environmental challenges by opponents of new Nantes
airport
- Many thousands of determined opponents of
new Nantes airport gather before final court
decision
Page 18
- Federal Court gives
clearance for Munich airport 3rd runway –
environmentalists fight on
- Ciudad Real airport,
cost €1.1 billion to build, sold for €10,000 to Chinese
group, perhaps for cargo airport
- Blog from The
Carbon Brief: Aviation’s battle to limit rising
emissions – maybe only by limiting demand
growth
Page 19
- Levy on frequent leisure
flyers proposed to make airport expansion
unnecessary
- Useful info
AirportWatch bulletin for July
2015 If you have done so yet,
and if you agree with the sentiment, please sign the
Friends of the Earth
"No Ifs, No Buts, No New Runways"
petition.There might even be a bit
of a lull in the runway lobbying during August, resuming
at full throttle by the autumn, along with the lead up
to the Paris climate talks at the very end of
November.
As usual, your news, views and comments
are always welcome.
Have a good
summer.
Kind regards
Sarah
Clayton
AirportWatch co-ordinator
www.airportwatch.org.uk
Email:
in...@airportwatch.org.ukTwitter
@AirportWatchFacebook
AirportWatch
