The Government has put back a decision on whether a third runway should be built at Heathrow until next month. Transport Minister Geoff Hoon said the views expressed by both opponents and advocates of the expansion needed “proper consideration”.
Mayor Boris Johnson, who opposes the runway and is exploring a new airport in the Thames estuary, said he hoped the delay was an indication Ministers “are starting to listen to reason and take seriously the concerns of the many thousands of people who would be badly affected by the scheme.”
The Mayor said a third runway “could have serious environmental consequences, and it is imperative that the Government consider alternatives to it, as I have been doing.”
Green Party Assembly Member Darren Johnson said an additional runway “will do nothing to help London recover from the recession, but would cause a massive increase in noise, air pollution and carbon emissions.”
Gill Moore says
Not quite so green when it comes to aviation Boris!!!!!!!!
Alongside the RSPB, Friends of the North Kent Marshes are wholly opposed to the construction of an airport anywhere in the Thames Estuary because of the immense damage it would cause to the area’s internationally important wildlife and the wider environment.The whole issue was exhaustively investigated between 2002 and 2005 in the Government’s Aviation White Paper. All the key players, including the aviation industry, contributed. The idea of an airport in the Thames Estuary was conclusively ruled out and upheld by the High Court. In addition to the unprecedented environmental damage and the resulting massive legal implications, the investigation found that an estuary airport did not make sense economically, would not meet the requirements of the aviation industry and presented a significantly higher risk of ‘bird strike’ than at any other major airport in the UK. It would potentially be the single biggest piece of environmental vandalism ever perpetrated in the UK.