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UK SUFFERS AIRPORTS EPIDEMIC AS COUNCILS AND BUSINESSES GO 'PLANE CRAZY'

05 Jul 1999

The UK is suffering an airports epidemic as councils and business go 'plane crazy' says new research published today [1].

'Plane Crazy', a new brochure from Friends of the Earth and the Aviation Environment Federation, shows that construction has already started or approval been given for eight UK airport expansions - at Stansted, London City, Coventry, Birmingham, Manchester,Liverpool, Newcastle and Edinburgh. Meanwhile, plans are being considered:

.    to expand another seven existing airports - at Heathrow, Gatwick, Luton, East Midlands, Teesside, Belfast City and Derry City; and

.    to build four more airports on disused or scarcely used RAF bases in Suffolk,Hampshire, South Yorkshire and Kent.

In many regions, councils and businesses are pushing through competing expansions so they can grab the lion's share of the forecast increase in passenger and freight flights [2].

Yet little is being done to stop these expansions from causing irreparable damage to the environment. The Government has no up to date policy to guide its decisions on airports.The last airports white paper was issued 14 years ago and a new one won't be published for three or four years [3]. Government studies into ways of increasing airport capacity won't be finished for five months and, in one case, for well over a year [4].

Meanwhile, top Government scientists from around the world have warned that emissions from aircraft are an important and growing cause of global waming [5]

Simon McRae, FOE's Aviation Campaigner, said

“Britain has gone 'plane crazy'. The Government is allowing the expansion of UK airports in a totally uncoordinated way. It must issue a new airports white paper as soon as possible, and put all expansions on hold until then.”

Tim Johnson, Director of the Aviation Environment Federation, said

“If these expansions go ahead, we will be living with their effects for 30 years or more. Surely it makes sense to delay any decisions until Government studies into the least damaging way of expanding airports have been completed and a new White Paper has been published.”

These airport expansions are occuring at a time when the industry is becoming more and more deregulated. The liberalisation of air service agreements between countries in the EU has encouraged flights directly between regional airports. Meanwhile four local authority-controlled airports have had public sector borrowing limits removed allowing them to expand [6].

NOTES TO EDITORS:

[1]     'Plane Crazy', a new leaflet from Friends of the Earth and the Aviation Environment Federation is available free from FOE at 26-28 Underwood Street, London, N1 7JQ and the Aviation Environment Federation, Sir John Lyon House, 5 High Timber Street, London, EC4V 3NS.

[2]     The number of passengers passing through UK airports is expected to increase by 87-192 per cent between 1995 and 2015. Air freight traffic is forecast to grow even faster (see 'Plane Crazy' - 'Air Traffic Growth').

[3]     The last Airports White Paper was published in 1985. The Government has said it will publish another once it has decided whether to allow a fifth terminal to be built at Heathrow. It is unlikely to do this for at least three years (see 'Plane Crazy' -'Airport Expansions')

[4]    As part of its preparation for the next Airports White Paper, the Government is carrying out seven studies on the role of regional airports. Six of these (for the South West, Midlands, the North, Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland) are expected to be completed by the end of the year. The seventh (into the South East and East) will take over a year longer (see 'Plane Crazy' - 'Regional Airport Studies').

[5]    Last month the United Nation's Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change published 'Aviation and the Global Atmosphere'. This says that aircraft are responsible for 3.5 per cent of global warming and could be responsible for up to 15 per cent by 2050.

[6]    Publis sector borrowing controls have been removed at Manchester, Newcastle,Leeds-Bradford and Norwich (see 'Plane Crazy' - 'Deregulation').

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