Keith Taylor MEP: “We don’t need a new runway at Gatwick – or Heathrow, or Stansted or anywhere else for that matter”

Keith Taylor, the Green Party MEP, has set out clearly why no new runway is needed. The Airports Commission will shortly publish their consultation options, for runway plans at Heathrow and Gatwick. Keith says the extensive evidence against there being a need for a new south east runway is being ignored. The massive advertising and PR budgets by the airports are attempting to persuade that a new runway is vital is described as a con. While in theory the Commission was set up to establish if there was a need for a runway, in reality it has just been a process of making the decision where to build one more politically acceptable. It has not been an issue of “whether” as it should have been – but just “where.” Keith comments: “… it seems the Commission’s sole purpose has become to choose where expansion will go despite the very strong existing evidence against all airport expansion.”  People in the UK already fly more than almost any other nation. Economic claims of  the benefits of a new runway and claims about jobs created are also grossly exaggerated.  The aviation industry is perpetrating a massive hoax, for their own purposes. 
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SussexVoice “Talk Politics” – Green MEP Keith Taylor – We don’t need more runways

28.10.2014  (By Keith Taylor)

Keith Taylor is Member of the European Parliament for South East England and a Green Party member.

We don’t need a new runway at Gatwick – or Heathrow, or Stansted or anywhere else for that matter.

The overwhelming evidence presented against airport expansion in 2009/10 when the then Labour government was backing proposals for a third runway at Heathrow is being ignored.

The huge budgets of the pro expansion lobby are busy trying to convince people expansion is the only way to go.  It’s a con.

When Prime Minister David Cameron set up the Davies Commission in 2012 there was a rising crescendo of business pressure for new runways. Cameron effectively kicked the issue into touch until after the 2015 General Election, ostensibly with a brief to Davies to consider whether expansion in the South East was necessary.

Many people believe Cameron had already privately decided that new runway(s) would be built, and forming the Commission was a cynical attempt at delaying any decision and deferring any political responsibility for implementing their recommendations.

The reality now is that the Davies Commission will recommend not whether expansion will take place but where it will happen.

In fact, it seems the Commission’s sole purpose has become to choose where expansion will go despite the very strong existing evidence against all airport expansion.

Such evidence includes the fact that without the go-ahead for any new runways, Britain is already amongst the most frequent flyers in the world. And that already more passengers fly in and out of London than any other city in the world.

Furthermore, nine of the ten most popular destinations from Heathrow are short-haul flights. [ Details ]  Existing rail services could offer workable alternatives on most of these routes, thus freeing up landing slots for longer haul flights, addressing airport capacity problems. As trains are around ten times less polluting than planes this would also be better for the environment. [ Details of plane/train carbon by Seat 61 ].

The employment benefits of expansion have also been overplayed. Claims that airport expansion will help create thousands of new jobs to help the country through the recession are based on unreliable statistics and in fact, expansion results in more UK tourists going abroad which creates a ‘tourism deficit’, where tourists’ money is exported from UK.      [Tourism deficit ].

Economist Brendon Sewill said:

“The Government, aided by the aviation industry, is perpetrating a hoax that airport expansion is vital to the economy and will help us though the recession. Councillors and planning officers are being misled by exaggerated claims that the expansion of their local airports will create lots of extra jobs. For example, ten years ago Manchester Airport claimed that its second runway would create 50,000 extra jobs [ link ]  whereas in practice employment at the airport has increased by only 4,000.”  [See employment details below. Airport had 2,088 employees in 2013 and 2,585 in 2000]. 

As anti-aviation expansion campaigners, we must be more strategic. If residents of Gatwick and residents of Heathrow both oppose expansion on their own local impacts then this will just be seen as a NIMBY reaction and our chances of winning will be limited.

But if we can create a situation whereby all anti-aviation expansion campaigners are calling for no runway expansion anywhere – because of the very convincing arguments that we have at our disposal on the environment, climate change, noise, air pollution and community blight – then we’re in with a chance of winning.

That also means supporting the regional airport campaigns in their smaller battles to prevent expansion such as the successful campaign I recently supported at Redhill Aerodrome. [ link ]

The fight-back is already happening and will be strengthened when everyone starts saying ‘Stop All Airport Expansion’ to promote the issues further up the agenda.

I look forward to making these points at the Gatwick Area Conservation Campaign (GACC) conference on Saturday 22nd November.

http://www.sussexvoice.co.uk/2014/10/28/sussex-voice-talk-politics-green-mep-keith-taylor-we-dont-need-more-runways/

 

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Employment details for Manchester airport.

Its 2nd runway was built in 2001.
The average monthly number of persons (including the directors) employed by the Group during the year was:

In  2000

Administration  397

Operational  1,633

Baggage handling  555

Total   2,585


 

In  2001 

Administration 405

Operational 1,639

Baggage handling 619

Total 2,663 

http://www.manchesterairport.co.uk/manweb.nsf/alldocs/314061A7BF7257488025738D004BB429/$File/Annual+Report+and+Accounts+0001.pdf

That document said:

“With the Airport set to grow significantly over the next 15 years with the number of passengers forecast to more than double to nearly 41 million a year by 2015”

In reality, the number of passengers in 2013 at Manchester airport was 20,682,900


 

In   2007

The average number of persons (including executive directors) employed by the Group during the year was:

2,263


In 2008

2,481

http://www.manchesterairport.co.uk/manweb.nsf/alldocs/BF3EEF3422FA8E3280257497004ACCEE/$File/Annual+Report+0708.pdf


 

In 2013

The average number of persons (including Executive Directors) employed by the Group during the year was:

2,088


 

In 2014

The average number of persons (including Executive Directors) employed by the Group during the year was:

2,226

http://www.manchesterairport.co.uk/manweb.nsf/alldocs/2D7BEAB35258108D80257D1F004BF436/$File/MAG+Annual+Report+2014.pdf

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