Mayor Boris Johnson to review support for London City Airport expansion

16.9.2010 (Fight the Flights)

At yesterday’s London Assembly Mayors’ Question Time (1) the Mayor of London,
Boris Johnson stated that ‘in retrospect he realises that his decision to support
the flight expansion at London City Airport  
needs reviewing’.

He went on to say he felt very anxious about the impact of extra flights over
London and that the ‘consequences of the expansion had been unexpected and we
need to look at the impact of aviation over huge areas of East London ‘.

The Mayor also indicated that he had written to the Civil Aviation Authority
expressing his concern and requesting further information over the near collision
(2) between a Heathrow 777 and London City Airport Cessna in July 2009.

Anne-Marie Griffin, Chair of Fight the Flights welcomed the news stating “We
have been expressing our concerns about the impact of the expansion of London
City Airport for over 2 years to the Mayor. We felt that the Mayor had been ill
advised but it is now clear that he is acknowledging the full impact of extra
flights over London , particularly over East London . What is important now is
to see what action the Mayor takes and we’d certainly welcome the ‘fresh thinking
on aviation expansion’ which the Mayor referred to”.

The Mayor was also asked regarding the pledge(3) he made at the Ilford Environmental
Question Time in early 2009, to support a call for a public review (4) of the
London City Airport Flight path changes by the Civil Aviation Authority.

Griffin said ” the Mayor does acknowledge his pledge and response to the FTF
question, however he appears to have moved the goalposts by commenting that he
would ensure that the review ‘would be useful to the public and get the facts
into the public domain’. That simply isn’t the same as calling for a public review.
The CAA are still reviewing the flight path change behind closed doors so the
Mayor still has time to put Londoners first and insist that the review is a public
one”.

 

End

Notes for Editors:

 

(1)     http://www.london.gov.uk/who-runs-london/the-london-assembly/webcasts

(2)   http://www.thisislondon.co.uk/standard/article-23875801-jet-in-near-miss-with-heathrow-airline-over-london.do

(3)   http://londoncityairportfighttheflights.blogspot.com/2010/01/boris-backs-call-for-public-review-of.html

(4) http://londoncityairportfighttheflights.blogspot.com/2010/08/caa-update-on-post-implementation.html

 

For further information:

 

FTF spokesperson   07984 300558  

Website: http://www.fighttheflights.com/

Blog: http://londoncityairportfighttheflights.blogspot.com/