THIRD RUNWAY AT HEATHROW COULD BRING EXPANSION AT SCOTTISH AIRPORTS TO A HALT
Ben Webster Transport Correspondent
28 January 2009
A new runway at Heathrow would result in every other British airport having to abandon expansion plans to meet the Government's climate change target, a study has suggested.
The increase in carbon dioxide emissions from an enlarged Heathrow would be so great that other airports might be forced to cut thousands of flights a year to avoid a breach of the target. That could mean scrapping new runways at Stansted and in Scotland.
More than 20 Labour MPs are expected to rebel against the Government today by voting for a Conservative motion condemning Heathrow expansion. The result will not be binding on the Government but if it is close it would be embarrassing for ministers because it would show how divided the Commons is on the issue.
Opposition to the £ billion third runway and sixth terminal is likely to grow when MPs with constituencies far from Heathrow's flight paths realise that the expansion could come at the expense of their own airports.
A study by the Campaign for Better Transport (CBT) has concluded that planned new runways at Stansted and Edinburgh or Glasgow would have to go because a Heathrow with three runways would use two thirds of British aviation's carbon ration by 2050. Another 22 airports —ncluding Birmingham, Bristol, Doncaster, East Midlands, Exeter, Leeds- Bradford, Liverpool, Manchester and Newcastle —ould have to abandon plans to build new terminals or extend runways.
Birmingham International airport, which is seeking permission to lengthen its runway by 400 metres to allow passenger numbers to treble to 28 million, said that it would be devastating for the local economy if its expansion was blocked to favour Heathrow.
John Grogan, the Labour MP for Selby, whose motion condemning the third runway was signed by 56 other Labour MPs, said: "Heathrow's third runway will gobble up all the available carbon allowance for more flights. The biggest losers will be the regional airports, whose hopes of developing more routes will have to be shelved."
Two weeks ago Geoff Hoon, the Transport Secretary, persuaded Cabinet sceptics including Ed Miliband and Hilary Benn to support Heathrow expansion by hastily drawing up the Government's first target to limit aviation CO2. He said that emissions from British aviation would have to be reduced to below 2005 levels —hich were 37.5 million tonnes —y 2050.
However, on the same day the Department for Transport quietly published its forecasts for the growth of aviation carbon dioxide. It predicted that, even assuming steady improvement in aircraft fuel efficiency, emissions would rise to 59.9 million tonnes in 2050. The forecast assumes that annual passenger numbers more than double from 228 million in 2005 to 525 million by 2050.
The DfT also forecasts that the expansion of Heathrow will result in its CO2 emissions increasing from 17.1 million tonnes in 2005 to 23.6 million tonnes in 2030.
Paul Kehoe, chief executive of Birmingham airport, said: "Regional airports will be up in arms if Heathrow is allowed to expand while they are frozen. Birmingham is Britain's second city and it needs direct global connections, not an artificial constraint which forces businessmen investing here to fight their way out of Heathrow and up the M40."
Tim Jeans, the managing director of Monarch, Britain's fourth-biggest airline, said that it would be absurd to expand Heathrow and block growth at airports in the countryside where no urban areas were flown over.
Kevin Stewart, chairman of Nestrans, the North East Transport Agency, said: "We we want to see the expansion of Aberdeen airport and it's vital for us that we continue to be able to provide direct services from Aberdeen Airport to Heathrow."
Graham Bell, of Scottish Chambers of Commerce, said: "We have to decide if we wish to trade in a global economy or batten down the hatches and be environmentally benign and destitute."
Des McNulty MSP, Labour's Shadow Minister for Transport at Holyrood, said that the case for a new runway at either Edinburgh or Glasgow had yet to be proved. "We should look at high-speed rail links to London from Scotland. The market for air transport from Manchester and Leeds to London has collapsed because rail travel has improved so much." 'The case for a new runway at Edinburgh has yet to be proved'.
The Times
(c) 2009 Times Newspapers Limited. All rights reserved
Go to top
Print Page
Smaller
