David Cameron urged to reopen consultation on air quality at Heathrow
More than 30 west London politicians and anti-airport expansion group leaders have signed a letter to the PM over air pollution following Airports Commission recommendation to allow a 3rd Heathrow runway. Serious concerns exist about the level of air pollution around Heathrow, where it is already above the legal limit. The group of organisations signing the letter to David Cameron include the leaders of two councils, and 5 MPs, 3 Assembly members and environmental groups, say this problem has not been taken seriously by the Commission. There either needs to be a new consultation, or the government should rule out a Heathrow runway. The Commission’s conclusions are based on a highly flawed and very short consultation. The letter states: “Given the Commission timetable and the fact their main 350-page report was published just a month after the air quality consultation ended, it is clear that the Commission effectively regarded it as a tick box exercise and one that was immaterial to the overall report. It is hard to see how a third runway with millions more car and lorry journeys to the airport will improve air quality around west London. It will obviously make it worse. In doing so it will also raise the legal bar for expansion ever getting the green light.”
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David Cameron urged to reopen consultation on air quality at Heathrow
28 July 2015
(Get West London)
By Salina Patel
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More than 30 west London politicians and anti-airport expansion group leaders sign letter to the PM over air pollution following Davies’ recommendation to expand at Heathrow
Dozens of politicians, anti-airport expansion groups and climate change leaders in west London have signed a letter urging the Prime Minister to reopen the debate on air quality.
Following the Airport Commissions report to expand at Heathrow , Sir Howards Davies’ recommendation has raised concerns largely over air pollution at Heathrow where it is already above the legal limit.
The group also believe that the issue has not been taken seriously by the Commission and are concerned the recommendation has been made from the results of a flawed consultation which gave people limited days to reply, and therefore have called on David Cameron to reopen the consultation process.
Among the 30 signatures are council leaders including Hillingdon Council leader Ray Puddifoot ; Stephen Cowan, leader of Hammersmith & Fulham Council ; MP for Brentford & Isleworth Ruth Cadbury ; MP for Twickenham Tania Mathias; MP for Hayes & Harlington John McDonnell ;MP for Harrow East Bob Blackman ; and MP for Hammersmith Andy Slaughter ; along with Friends of the Eart CEO Craig Bennett; John Stewart, chairman of HACAN; and London Assembly Group members Caroline Pidgeon and Stephen Knight.
The letter states: “Given the Commission timetable and the fact their main 350-page report was published just a month after the air quality consultation ended, it is clear that the Commission effectively regarded it as a tick box exercise and one that was immaterial to the overall report.
“It is hard to see how a third runway with millions more car and lorry journeys to the airport will improve air quality around west London.
“It will obviously make it worse. In doing so it will also raise the legal bar for expansion ever getting the green light.”
There are concerns history will repeat itself following the last government’s approval of a third runway in 2009, which was granted conditionally on the basis of improvements to air quality around the airport using cleaner technologies to bring about rapid improvement which have proved wrong.
The letter concludes: “In our view this issue is too important simply to wish away.
“Either the consultation process should be reopened so the views of the millions of people potentially affected can be properly considered or – preferably – the government should rule out expansion at Heathrow given the huge environmental and health impacts it would cause.”
http://www.getwestlondon.co.uk/news/west-london-news/david-cameron-urged-reopen-consultation-9736014
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The letter:
Air Quality – Letter to Prime Minister
Dear Prime Minister,
As you know, air quality is a huge cause of public concern, particularly in London. The associated health and environmental challenges are becoming clearer by the day. Last week a new report from academics at Kings College London estimated that the equivalent of up to 10,000 deaths in the capital are brought forward every year as a result of air pollution. This figure is expected to be 80,000 equivalent deaths across the UK.
Tackling air pollution has always been central to airport expansion. When the last Government gave the green light to expansion at Heathrow in 2009 it did so conditionally on the basis of assumptions about improvement to air quality around the airport. Six years on, assumptions about cleaner technologies bringing about rapid improvement in air quality have proved wrong. Air pollution remains a serious challenge at Heathrow. There is now a real danger of history repeating itself.
The recent Airport Commission Report once again recommended expansion at Heathrow. We believe that the problem of air quality has not been taken seriously enough by the Commission and are concerned that they made their recommendation after undertaking a flawed consultation on the issue.
Sir Howard Davies announced an exceptional consultation on air quality on 8 May – the day after the election. The consultation concluded on 29 May giving interested parties just 13 working days to respond to highly detailed technical reports, spatial maps and data spreadsheets as well as to interpret the Commission’s own complex methodology on receptor locations for example.
The Commission published a report on 1 July ‘Consideration of Air Quality Consultation Responses’. It is however clear that limited further work was done to respond substantively to points submitted during this exceptional consultation. Given the Commission timetable and the fact their main 350 page Report was published just a month after the air quality consultation ended it is clear that the Commission effectively regarded it as a tick box exercise and one that was immaterial to the overall report.
Air pollution at Heathrow is already above the legal limit. It is hard to see how a third runway with millions more car and lorry journeys to the airport will improve air quality around West London. It will obviously make it worse. In doing so it will also raise the legal bar for expansion ever getting the green light
As the Commission’s own report states ‘Limits on air quality are enshrined in domestic and European legal frameworks. Delivery of any scheme would be dependent on compliance with those frameworks.’ Following the Supreme Court Ruling earlier this year the Government is required to publish a plan by the end of 2015 detailing how it will ensure the UK is compliant with nitrogen dioxide limits. It is hard to see how expansion at Heathrow can be consistent with that.
In our view this issue is too important simply to wish away. Either the consultation process should be reopened so the views of the millions of people potentially affected can be properly considered or – preferably – the Government should rule out expansion at Heathrow given the huge environmental and health impacts it would cause.
We thank you for your consideration and look forward to your response.
http://www.zacgoldsmith.com/air-quality-letter-to-prime-minister/
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The letter was signed by:
Councillor Ray Puddifoot, Hillingdon borough council leader
Councillor Ravi Govindia, Wandsworth borough council leader
Lord True, Leader, Richmond upon Thames borough council leader
Councillor Stephen Cowan, Hammersmith and Fulham borough council leader
Councillor Kevin Davies, Kingston upon Thames Royal borough council leader
Councillor Ruth Dombey, Sutton borough council leader
Zac Goldsmith MP
Tania Mathias MP
John McDonnell MP
Ruth Cadbury MP
Bob Blackman MP
Kate Hoey MP
Adam Afriyie MP
Andy Slaughter MP
Baroness Kramer
Baroness Hamwee
John Sauven, executive director of Greenpeace UK
Craig Bennett, CEO of Friends of the Earth
Jonathan Steel, CEO of Change London
Alistair Wardrope, coordinator of Healthy Planet UK
Eleanor Dow, deputy coordinator of Healthy Planet UK
Stephen Joseph, chief executive, Campaign for Better Transport
Professor Frank Kelly, King’s College London
Clean Air in London
Shazia Ali-Webber, I Like Clean Air
Andrew Wood, Network for Clean Air
Tim Johnson, director of the Aviation Environment Federation
John Stewart, chair of HACAN
Peter Willan, chair of Richmond Heathrow Campaign
Teddington Action Group
Caroline Pidgeon, leader of the Liberal Democrat London Assembly Group
Stephen Knight, Liberal Democrat environment spokesperson, London Assembly
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PM urged to consult again on Heathrow air quality impacts
28.07.2015 (Air Quality News)
By MICHAEL HOLDER
MPs, councillors, scientists and campaigners have written to the Prime Minister urging him to reopen a consultation over the potential air quality impacts of building a third runway at Heathrow Airport – or to rule out expansion altogether.
A number of high profile politicians from across the political divide are calling on the government to reopen a consultation on Heathrow air quality
Signed by politicians from across the political divide, the letter states that a third runway at Heathrow will “obviously” worsen West London’s air quality and urges David Cameron to abandon the plans or reopen the consultation process “so the views of millions of people potentially affected can be properly considered”.
Earlier this month, the independent Airports Commission under Sir Howard Davies controversially recommended that a third runway be built at Heathrow alongside a number of measures to mitigate air quality and environmental impacts of expansion at the airport (see AirQualityNews.com story).
The recommendation followed a consultation process which ran from May 8-29 2015, which sought views over the potential air quality impact of expansion at the airport.
However, signatories of the letter – including eight London MPs and council leaders from six London boroughs – said this process was too short, with interested parties given only 13 working days to respond to the “highly detailed technical reports, spatial maps and data spreadsheets as well as to interpret the Commission’s own complex methodology on receptor locations for example”.
In addition, the letter claims that as the Commission’s final 350-page report was published just a month later on July 1 2015 “limited further work was done to response substantively to the points raised during this exceptional consultation” and that “it is clear that the Commission effectively regarded it as a tick box exercise and one that was immaterial to the overall report”.
It states:
“We believe that the problem of air quality has not been taken seriously enough by the Commission and are concerned that they made their recommendation after undertaking a flawed consultation on the issue.”
Others to add their names to the letter also include:
King’s College London air quality Professor Frank Kelly; Conservative hopeful for London Mayor Zac Goldsmith; former Minister of State for Transport Baroness Kramer; two London Assembly Members; and campaigners from the likes of Friends of the Earth, Greenpeace and Clean Air in London.
The letter also cites recent studies finding that almost 9,500 premature deaths in London each year are attributable to air pollution, as well as the Supreme Court’s recent ruling that the UK government must produce a new air quality plan before the end of the year to meet EU nitrogen dioxide limits.
Sent to the Prime Minister on Friday (July 24), the letter states: “Air pollution at Heathrow is already above the legal limit. It is hard to see how a third runway with millions more car and lorry journeys to the airport will improve air quality around West London. It will obviously make it worse. In doing so it will also raise the legal bar for expansion ever getting the green light.
“In our view this issue is too important simply to wish away. Either the consultation process should be reopened so the views of the millions of people potentially affected can be properly considered or – preferably – the government should rule out expansion at Heathrow given the huge environmental and health impacts it would cause.
“We thank you for your consideration and look forward to your response.”
http://www.airqualitynews.com/2015/07/28/pm-urged-to-consult-again-on-heathrow-air-quality-impacts/
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