Heavy criticism for Heathrow runway plans after damaging report
Heathrow expansion is an unnecessary environmental disaster in waiting, according to a vocal green campaigner.
Keith Taylor, Green MEP for the South East and a member of the European Parliament’s Environment Committee, says a report published this week is further proof the Government is still not able to show it can mitigate the destructive environmental impacts of a new runway.
The Environmental Audit Committee report says the Government is still failing to take into account major concerns about the air pollution, carbon emissions and noise pollution.
It has accused the government of ‘magical thinking’ over the plans, and not having a proper solution.
"Today’s report is an important reminder that campaigners have been right all along; Heathrow expansion is still a climate-wrecking decision that is bad for the British people and the planet," said Taylor.
"A new runway will breach legal air pollution limits and further worsen an air quality crisis that the Government is already failing to tackle.
"Expansion will bust Britain’s carbon budgets and make a mockery of Theresa May’s legal-binding commitments under the Paris Agreement.
"Astonishingly, the Government’s response appears to be its willingness to water down already dangerously-lax limits on aviation emissions, despite the recommendations of its own advisors."
He said expansion would be disastrous for the people of the South East, London, Britain, and the planet.
"Britain’s ‘airport capacity crisis’ is, and always has been, a dangerous myth driven by corporate greed, not by actual need," he argued.
"Not only is all but one airport in the UK operating under capacity, sponsoring the exponential growth of an aviation industry that is a top-ten global polluter is wholly incompatible with Britain’s Paris climate agreement commitments."
A Department for Transport spokesman said it takes air quality commitments ‘extremely seriously’ and said it has been very clear that the new runway will not get the go-ahead unless air quality requirements can be met.
Bev
Editor in chief Bev Fearis has been a travel journalist for 25 years. She started her career at Travel Weekly, where she became deputy news editor, before joining Business Traveller as deputy editor and launching the magazine’s website. She has also written travel features, news and expert comment for the Guardian, Observer, Times, Telegraph, Boundless and other consumer titles and was named one of the top 50 UK travel journalists by the Press Gazette.
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