Evidence supporting airport expansion is flawed, says government adviser

south west | the environment | news report Wednesday May 21, 2008 11:34 by Ca4al

What about the local schemes then?

The function of the jester in medieval courts was to act as a safety valve for criticism of the monarch. As nobody took any notice of the fool, the despot could laugh and go along his merry way. Such is the relationship between the UK government and its Sustainable Development Commission (SDC) led by the estimable Jonathon Porritt. The SDC speaks for many when it reports that the government’s air travel policy is ill-conceived but will anyone in government take notice? Is it time for the SDC to enter the phone booth and re-emerge as our environmental superhero?

taken from The Independent Breaking the Holding Pattern

"The decision on whether to press ahead with the bitterly contested expansion of Heathrow and Stansted airports must be postponed because the evidence supporting Britain’s aviation strategy is “inadequate” and the subject of “fundamental disagreement,” a damning report by the Government’s own green watchdog will say today.

Controversy over issues such as the contribution of air travel to climate change and its benefits to the economy is so deep that only a special commission, similar to the Turner commission on pensions, can dispel the atmosphere of “rising distrust” on aviation between the Government, voters and environmentalists, according to the Sustainable Development Commission (SDC). The body, which was set up by Labour and is charged with advising ministers on contentious environmental and economic issues, said making a decision on major projects such as the third runway at Heathrow, expected this summer, and a second runway at Stansted on the basis of current heavily disputed evidence was “impossible” in the current climate of “conflict and controversy”."

Gloucester Council Committee Rejects Airport Expansion Plans
http://bristol.indymedia.org/article/688021

South west economy coughs up for airport expansion
http://bristol.indymedia.org/article/25594

Report demolishes Bristol Airport's claims to be good for the economy
http://bristol.indymedia.org/article/24410

http://gnn.tv/headlines/17538/Evidence_supporting_airpo...viser