Green Assembly Member takes to streets over Heathrow expansion

Green Assembly Member takes to streets over Heathrow expansion

Jenny Jones, a Green Party Member of the London Assembly, will be taking to the streets tomorrow to protest against Government plans for the expansion of Heathrow airport.  She will be joining a ‘flash mob’ outside the Department for Transport at 11am, organised by the group HACAN (Heathrow Association for the Control of Aircraft Noise).

 

The Government is expected to make an announcement on Heathrow shortly, following the public consultation on its proposals to add a third runway and sixth terminal to the airport, thereby increasing the number of take-offs and landings to over 700,000 a year – an increase virtually equivalent to the current size of Gatwick airport.

 

Jenny is instead calling for the Government to begin contracting Heathrow, by introducing legislation to ban short-haul flights and strengthening high-speed rail links to the rest of Europe. 

 

She commented:

“Expansion of Heathrow would lead to spiralling carbon dioxide emissions, unacceptable noise disturbance for over two million Londoners and worsening air quality, yet the economic benefits would be highly questionable.  Expanding Heathrow does not make economic or environmental sense.”