Airport News
Below are news items relating to specific airports
Thousands (20,000?) march to the ZAD at Notre Dame des Landes, planting their sticks symbolic of opposition to new airport
At Notre-Dame-des-Landes, where a new airport for Nantes is planned, there was a massive mobilisation on Saturday 8th October against it. Somewhere between 15,000 and 40,000 people from many distant parts of France walked to the ZAD (zone à défendre), with sticks to symbolise their determination that this land will not be built on for the airport, which they are sure is not necessary. The sticks rang out on the roads surrounding the planned airport site, as the walkers arrived - and they planted the vast number of staffs in the soil, as an expression that they will be back to defend the site against the forces of the state. The only way the government, and the airport developer, Vinci, can take the site is by force - using huge numbers of riot police. They would have to take back a large area (1650 hectares), and keep it defended against zadistes for a long time. Might they try to take and hold part of the site? This situation is difficult, expensive and risky for the government. There have been violent clashes in the past, over the defence of the ZAD. At another protest site, the Sivens Dam, a protester - Rémi Fraisse - died after being hit by a police flash grenade. It is hoped the police would not use force for the evictions. The airport project got a small vote in its favour in June in a public consultation, though the fairness of that is questioned by objectors. There were delays waiting for legal permissions to destroy water vole habitat and wetlands, but these have now been approved.
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Campaign to Protect Rural England fears Gatwick runway would mean the loss of ‘glorious tranquil countryside’
With a Government announcement on airport expansion expected soon, the Chairman of the Sussex branch of the CPRE argues against a 2nd Gatwick runway. David Johnson says already Sussex councils are struggling under continuing Government pressure to find yet more sites for development. This pressure is met by fierce community challenges as local residents fight to protect what makes Sussex special - its tranquil rural beauty. Building new infrastructure and swathes of new homes seem to be regarded as the key to inflating the UK’s economy. While the nuisance of aircraft noise, light and air pollution and the impact on local traffic is familiar to many of us, any extension to Gatwick threatens to worsen this blight. David says: "The burden of a greater Gatwick fills me with dread - ‘progress’ should not lead to a decline in air quality, the bulldozing of ancient woodlands and the loss of glorious, tranquil countryside. Gatwick lies in the lee of the North Downs surrounded by three ‘Areas of Outstanding Natural Beauty’ which enjoy the same protections as the National Parks. ... We may be smart about our technology but we can’t recreate our countryside, ancient woodland, and heritage. We are all responsible for our legacy; surely we should be leaving behind a better world by preserving our countryside from such destructive developments as a new runway at Gatwick."
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Boris and Justine may be “unavoidably away” to avoid embarrassment on Cabinet runway vote
The Observer expects that the meeting of the runway sub-committee of the Cabinet will be on Monday 17th October, with the Cabinet decision on 18th - and the announcement in Parliament. But that may still be speculation .... The Observer also says that to avoid "embarrassment" to Boris Johnson and Justine Greening (fierce opponents of a Heathrow 3rd runway), it is likely they would both be “unavoidably away” when the Commons votes on the issue. They would therefore not have the awkward situation of being in Cabinet ....“Boris can easily be arranged to be on tour and Justine could be researching grammar schools in Malawi, or some such,” said a government source ... (is this ethical or democratic?) Though it is likely there would be a free vote in Parliament, to endorse the Cabinet decision on a runway location, the Cabinet would probably be required to support of the government’s position. Boris will not resign if there is a vote for a 3rd runway, but may believe even if approved by Theresa May, the runway may never in reality go ahead. Journalists appear to believe, or have been told by Whitehall sources, that Heathrow is the preferred location. Zac Goldsmith has warned that taxpayers could end up paying for Heathrow's expansion, as the airport has significant debts and could be forced to turn to the government for financial support.
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Turkey building massive aerotropolis – 3rd airport for Istanbul – to cover 7.6 km sq including farmland and forest
Turkey is in the process of building a vast 7,650 hectare (ie. 7.65 km sq) aerotropolis airport development, with 6 runways. It forms part of a massive scheme for a road bridge over the Bosphorus, another canal, huge marinas etc covering a vast area. There has been strenuous opposition to this for years, but Turkey wants a new airport and to be a major aviation hub - situated where it is close to the Middle East. Much of the land being dug up and flattened was farmland, and some was forest. This is now all destroyed. The campaign, Northern Forest Defence (KUZEY ORMANLARI SAVUNMASI), has produced film showing the scale of the devastation. They sent a message of solidarity on 1st October, to other protests agains other unwelcome and environmentally destructive airport developments, including the airport project at Nantes. Work on it started in June 2014, and by August about 30% of work on the first phase was complete. If the first phase is completed in February 2018, it is expected the airport will then process 90 million passengers annually, and up to over 150 million passengers a year when fully operational in 2030. The group says people in the area wait to be told their land will be bought up for the project. The first wave of mandatory government purchases was in 2014. If land is designated as farmland, Turkish law allows its expropriation to use for public projects.
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New research on Heathrow meeting air pollution standards with 3rd runway is highly speculative and not convincing
The BBC published a story about work, funded by NERC and led by a Cambridge professor, on Heathrow air pollution levels. The work is ongoing and not yet published, but the BBC made the claim that it showed a Heathrow 3rd runway would not breach NO2 levels. The timing of the story by the BBC, one or two weeks before it is expected the Cabinet will make an announcement, may be due to Heathrow manipulation. The study in reality is looking at modelling of future air pollution, based on a range of assumptions - nothing new. Its projections are only as good as its modelling inputs. If assumptions that vehicles will rapidly convert to lower-NO2 engines, or the uptake of electric vehicles will be fast, then forecasts of NO2 can be low. But this is highly speculative. Cait Hewitt, deputy director of the AEF, said: “The assumption would have to be that, over the next decade, we’d move from having something like 57% of London’s vehicles being diesel vehicles to instead having ultra-clean electric vehicles throughout the capital. There just isn’t evidence to suggest that’s going to happen.” Client Earth's CEO James Thornton said: “When making the decision on Heathrow the government has a moral and legal duty to protect people’s health and ensure they have the right to breathe clean air. It shouldn’t base its decision on optimistic modelling at best and a naive view of the car industry that has proven time and time again it can’t be trusted to bring levels of air pollution down." The study did not look at increases in road traffic, or what proportion would be associated with the new runway.
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I’ll fight Heathrow over plans for a new runway, says Justine Greening – not ruling out resignation
Education Secretary Justine Greening, MP for Putney, has refused to rule out resigning if Heathrow is chosen by Theresa May to expand. She has been a vocal opponent of a larger Heathrow for years, as her constituency is badly overflown already by Heathrow planes - and the noise would be worse with a 3rd runway. She has now said she would continue to fight against Heathrow being the designated site for a runway. When asked by the BBC if her position in Cabinet would be ‘untenable’ if the decision went against her, Justine said the scenario was ‘hypothetical’. Back in May, before the Brexit vote, she predicted that the then PM, David Cameron, would have to shelve plans to expand Heathrow and choose Gatwick instead. Zac Goldsmith, the Tory MP for Richmond Park, close to Heathrow and badly over-flown by its planes, has again reiterated that he would trigger a by-election if the Cabinet chose Heathrow, but he would not clarify whether he would himself stand again. Theresa May herself clearly said, 10th May 2010 (on her own website) “Like many local residents, I strongly welcome to cancellation of the third runway at Heathrow. Expanding Heathrow in this way would have had a detrimental effect on the Maidenhead and Twyford areas by increasing levels of noise and pollution, and today’s announcement is a victory for all those who have campaigned against it.”
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IAG Cargo plans a new London premium temperature-controlled freight facility, double the size of the present one
IAG Cargo (which contains 4 airlines) is to build a new £55 million temperature controlled freight facility at Heathrow, to help it grow a “higher yielding” part of its business. IAG Cargo hopes this will be completed in 2018 and that the new building will be twice the size of the current IAG Cargo Premia facility (at about 8,500 square metres). The temperature controlled facility will be for expensive “premier” airfreight, for goods like perishable seafood - making more profit than many other sorts of cargo. IAG Cargo has not been doing well for the past two quarters, with commercial revenue down compared to a year earlier - down by 12% for Q2 2016 and down -1.8% in Q1. Some of the capacity will be for exports, but it is likely that the volume of imports will be larger (though Heathrow and the freight industry never draw attention to this publicly - just talking about exports). IAG Cargo say there is an expansion in demand from China, with the newly affluent middle classes wanting more sea food. They say razor clams and salmon from Scotland and Ireland are profitable exports. Apparently about 400 tonnes of Scottish razor clams were air freighted by IAG to China. [It is questionable how environmentally sustainable it is to grow these sea foods in the UK, to ship almost half way around the world - in biological terms as well as carbon]. IAG Cargo also handles fresh fruit and vegetables that are increasingly air freighted - as imports to the UK. More air freight mean more heavy lorries and vans, powered by diesel, around Heathrow.
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Academic research funded by NERC looking at better scientific data on Heathrow area NO2 pollution
The NERC (National Environment Research Centre) has funded independent research by a group of university academics into the NO2 air pollution. Heathrow has not paid for it. They have been using a larger number of pollution sensors, in different places, to contribute scientific data on levels of air pollution. They hope to be able to distinguish between NO2 from Heathrow itself, and from road traffic or that blown in from elsewhere. At several sites, the levels of NO2 are already above EU limits (40 µg/m3 over a year). The aim of the research is to test models to ensure they accord with reality. Past work done for the Airports Commission relied on estimates, whereas this latest work used more accurate, real-world measurements. The research is ongoing and there is no report yet, but it is likely that in a month or so the findings will be submitted to one or other journal, for peer review before publication. The study is on NO2 and has not looked at particulates in the same detail. One of the authors said the study does not say anything new - it is merely looking at the situation in an independent, purely scientific way, rather than (as has been done in the past) just extrapolating and predicting by modelling. The existence of the work, is being interpreted by others (like the BBC) to mean that air pollution from road vehicles will reduce (less NO2 from new diesels, and there will be more electric vehicles) in future, so a 3rd Heathrow runway might not lead to illegal NO2 levels. The authors say they have just done research - interpretation is for others.
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Zac Goldsmith likely to quit politics, rather than stand again as Richmond MP, if May approves Heathrow runway
The Evening Standard reports that Zac Goldsmith, the Conservative MP for Richmond Park, has said he would resign as an MP if Theresa May decides to approve a Heathrow 3rd runway. He has said for a long time that he would resign, and perhaps stand again as an independent. Zac's constituency is heavily over-flown by Heathrow, and with a 3rd runway, people would lose a large part of the time they currently have "respite" from the noise, due to the current runway alternation. Heathrow has admitted that people would probably only get perhaps 4 hours per day without planes, rather than about 8 hours at present. But now Zac is understood to feel it would be wasting his constituents' time to stand again at a by-election, and he would instead step down. His current majority is 23,000 (with about 43,000 votes out of around 58,000). The Liberal Democrats have held the seat in the past. The departure of Zac could be a worry for Theresa May as the Conservative party's working majority is only 16. (The Conservatives have 329 MPs, out of 650). They cannot comfortably afford to lose any. Though Boris Johnson and Justine Greening are both deeply opposed to the runway, they have both said they would not resign, and give up their Cabinet positions, on the issue.
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ASA uphold Teddington Action Group’s complaint about 4th misleading Heathrow advert
The Teddington Action Group complained to the Advertising Standards Authority (ASA) back in July about misleading information put out by Heathrow, implying that "A majority of MPs support expansion". Heathrow got a Comres poll done, of 150 MPs, and said that of these 65% supported a 3rd Heathrow runway. Heathrow then generalised this result to claim the same support across all 650 MPs. The ASA has upheld TAG's complaint against the Heathrow claim "A majority of MPs support Heathrow expansion" was misleading as it was based on a survey of only 150 MPs and the geographical make-up of the MPs surveyed meant a bias in the result; and The advert did not provide sufficient clarity on where the claim that "Expanding Heathrow will deliver up to £211bn of economic growth and up to 180,000 jobs across Britain" was sourced. The only evidence for the claims in the ads is a link to the Airports Commission, in tiny print - and no indication of the caveats on those figures - or that the economic benefits are over 60 years). The ASA agreed the advert had breached the Advertising Codes. To avoid negative publicity, Heathrow agreed to make the required changes to the advert and the case was informally resolved by the ASA. This is the fourth such ruling in 18 months against adverts claiming support for Heathrow expansion.