| AirportWatch news bulletin for November
2014 |
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With
all back copies of the news bulletins, it can be
found on the AirportWatch website under
Publications
Since
the last bulletin in mid-October, we have at last
had the Airports Commission's final consultation
on the 3 short-listed runway options, (the
Heathrow north-west runway, the Heathrow Hub
extension of the northern runway, and a 2nd
Gatwick runway). The consultation lasts till 3rd
February. However, the consultation is not for the
faint hearted - with about 55 long documents, some
quite technical. ( Main consultation document
and links to other documents can be found here. )
All
the airport community groups are encouraging their
members to send in responses, but recommend
waiting a while - it will take some time to read
through everything, and assess it fully. They will
then circulate guidance to members on the points
that need to be made. No ordinary (non-nerdy)
person can be expected to fit reading every
Commission document into a busy life.
The
Commission's basic premise remains that a new
runway is needed, though they have had
difficulties with making any reliable future
forecasts. The key question of whether indeed any
runway is required at all. Though the media,
and the industry, presume it is merely a matter of
WHERE to put a runway, the main question remains
IF there should be a runway at
all.
Certainly in terms of carbon
emissions, the ability of the UK to meet carbon
targets with a new runway is very doubtful indeed.
The main NGOs had a letter published in the Times
on 15th November saying that all 3 of the Airports
Commission’s short-listed options would increase
CO2 emissions. They said the Commission has
assumed that emissions will be somehow
constrained, but has remained silent on what
policy measures would achieve this in practice. A
new runway would necessitate some combination of
new taxes, limits on regional airport growth, and
additional burdens on other sectors to cut
emissions beyond the very challenging reductions
already required. The NGOs are calling on all
parties to make manifesto commitments that they
would not permit the building of a new runway that
will violate climate targets, exacerbate noise or
air pollution, or damage wildlife and the British
countryside. Whoever leads the next government
will need to judge the recommendations of the
Airports Commission in this context before
deciding whether to build a new runway anywhere in
the South East. Letter
At Heathrow, a
new group - SHE (Stop Heathrow Expansion)
- has formed in Harmondsworth and the
Heathrow Villages. If Heathrow was permitted to
build a north west runway, people there face the
frightening prospect of most of Harmondsworth (a
lovely visit, well worth a visit) being flattened,
and life being made almost unbearable for those
remaining on the edges of the expanded
airport.
.
More new groups are blossoming in
Kent and Sussex, as Gatwick's flight paths
infuriate more and more people - and they start to
appreciate the extent of the threat from a 2nd
Gatwick runway. Thousands of people have been
mobilised to oppose new concentrated flight paths,
let alone a runway. They do not take kindly to
Gatwick's repeated claim that their planes "only
fly over fields."
Backing up the growing
alarm and anger against Gatwick, a huge protest
meeting organised by GACC (Gatwick Area
Conservation Campaign) on 22nd November had
standing room only, with about 1,000 people. All
the MPs in the area either spoke against a new
runway, or new flight paths. Five MPs were present
at the meeting, and three (including Francis
Maude) sent strong messages of support for the
anti-runway campaign. The meeting ended with
enthusiastic and lively singing of "What Shall We
Do With Gatwick Airport?" to the tune of the
"Drunken Sailor", including one verse referring to
Stewart Wingate.... Details, MP's comments, Photos, Song
lyrics etc
A petition from 140 citizen
groups across Europe, signed up to the "Taming Aviation" coalition, was
handed in to the European Parliament on 18th
November. This asks for a ban on night flights for
an 8 hour period across Europe, and an end to the
tax breaks and subsidies that the aviation sector
gets across the EU. It is estimated that
European
governments miss out on €40 billion every year
because commercial airlines pay no tax on fuel and
are exempt from VAT. (Work done by CE Delft in
2013). A group of UK aviation
campaigners attended the event, with fellow
campaigners from Italy, France, Germany, Holland
and Belgium.
In mid October, a
Frankfurt activist chanced upon a huge fallen
aircraft wing flap, lying in forest some 8km from
the runway end. As the item was 3 - 4 metres
in length, and some 30 - 50 kilos in weight, it
was just as well it landed there, though it missed
a busy main road by only around 300 metres. Though
the airport attempted to make out the flap had
fallen years earlier, the police inadvertently let
slip they had been searching for it, without
success, just a week earlier. It is worrying
that this was the second such event at Frankfurt,
from a Korean cargo plane. Details.
Heathrow and
Gatwick continue to spend inordinate sums of money
on their lobbying efforts. Heathrow posters got
subvertised, in various creative ways.
Gatwick's "Obviously" posters have likewise been
subject to creative changes. The Leader of the
Manchester Chamber of Commerce was moved to
describe the attempts by Heathrow to lobby them as
"desperate" as Heathrow is paying northern
councils to hold pro-Heathrow meetings. He
commented: "What you see is both Heathrow and
Gatwick increasingly losing the argument and
getting increasingly desperate – as shown in this
case."
The contents of the
November bulletin:
Page
1
- Standing room only at huge Gatwick protest
meeting – definite “NO” to new flight paths
or 2nd runway
Page 2
- 140 organisations
signed up to the “Taming Aviation” coalition
petition European Parliament to ban night
flights
- Gatwick’s main airline, easyJet,
questions Gatwick case for 2nd runway and does not
want to pay higher landing charges
Pae
3
- Gatwick’s 2nd biggest airline, BA (Willie
Walsh) says there is no business case for a 2nd
Gatwick runway
- Kent County Council withdraws
backing for Gatwick 2nd runway, due to noise
burden
- Road and rail chaos, with congestion
and over-crowding, predicted if new Gatwick runway
built
Page 4
- Launch of SHE: Stop
Heathrow Expansion – fighting to save much-loved
village of Harmondsworth
Page 5
-
Airports Commission consultation launched –
on its assessments of Heathrow and Gatwick runway
plans
- HACAN’s intelligible summary of the
Commission consultation documents
Page
6
- Airports Commission assesses Gatwick’s
runway would cost about £2 billion more, needing
high landing charges
- Initial comments from
GACC on the Airports Commission consultation
documents
- Airports Commission consultation
acknowledges it lacks the necessary information on
carbon constraints
Page 7
- Airports
Commission estimates new homes needed for new
runway – 18,400 at Gatwick; 70,800 at Heathrow
(maybe more)
- Heathrow runway schemes to cost
£3-4 bn more than forecast
– benefits over 60
years hard to assess
- Runway plans would be
stalled by “inevitable” judicial review – causing
long delays
Page 8
- Manchester
Airports boss deeply critical of likelihood of
large public subsidy aiding Heathrow or Gatwick
runway
- Divisions at top of Tory party over
3rd Heathrow runway as Hammond, Johnson and others
will not accept it
- Open letter to the people
of Wandsworth, from the people of Gatwick –
“Not in My Backyard” should be borough
motto
Page 9
- Margaret Hodge: Gatwick
runway appeal ‘is hypocritical when it avoids
corporation tax’
- Gatwick 2nd runway planes
would be just 400 yards from Ifield village
homes – blighting lives
- CAA 2013 Air
Passenger Survey shows only 23% UK air passengers
on business (30% at Heathrow, 14% at
Gatwick)
Page 10
- Campaigners and
councils in East London want London City airport
to re-consult over flight path changes
-
Lufthansa retrofitting A320 planes with simple,
inexpensive, noise-reducing device to stop the
“Airbus whine”
Page 11
- Heathrow
adverts on the Underground subvertised
- US
research says claims airports are a city’s
“economic engine” are overstated, especially
compared to other local infrastructure
- ICCT
study finds overall fuel efficiency of US
airlines failed to improve on domestic
routes during 2013
Page 12
- Huge
“NORAH” study in Germany finds significant delay
in children’s reading due to impact of aircraft
noise
- Noise protesters block part of
Frankfurt airport for about an hour
- Frankfurt
airport campaigner finds large plane flap that
fell from aircraft into forest under approach
path
Page 13
- Stansted airport claim
“66% cut in net carbon footprint” this year but
they are buying biomass-generated electricity from
Drax
- Study finds a carbon gap of 220 million
tonnes in 2023 will require offsetting by the
airline industry
- Useful Links
Bulletin at http://www.airportwatch.org.uk/wp-content/uploads/AirportWatch-bulletin-for-November-2014.pdf
As
always, your feedback is welcome, as are updates
and items of news from our subscribers, wherever
they are, in the UK and abroad.
Kind
regards
Sarah Clayton
AirportWatch
co-ordinator
www.airportwatch.org.uk
Twitter
@AirportWatch
Facebook AirportWatch
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