Lib Dems Lead Fight against Heathrow Expansion

At the recent Council meeting, Liberal Democrats proposed a motion that Surrey County Council should come out against further expansion of Heathrow.

Transport spokesperson Councillor John Doran, proposing the motion, said that a third runway at Heathrow would have devastating environmental effects on Surrey residents as well as the wider environment.

The expansion is to provide capacity for more than doubling air traffic by 2020, a number based on oil at less than $50 per barrel not close to $100. What will future generations make of us spending billions to expand an industry that is on the verge of destroying the planet?

The government has fudged the numbers on noise pollution and rejected its own study (the first for 20 years). According to Ruth Kelly, noise levels will fall and people in places like Spelthorne and the rest of Surrey won't notice the near doubling of flights!

• New approaches are planned in the west coming in over Farnham, and passing Guildford and Woking while overflying Chobham, Windlesham and Sunningdale
• In the East there is a new flight path over Leatherhead and Epsom.
• The big argument used is that Heathrow drives our economy. 30% of passengers at the airport are in transit so contribute nothing to the UK economy.
• English is the language of business and as such this area has a huge advantage over continental European airports.
• There are too many short haul flights at Heathrow. A better solution would be to invest in improvements to high speed rail travel. Nearly half of all flights in Europe are less than 300 miles. Amsterdam, Paris and Frankfurt all have high speed train stations in the terminal!
• The impact on the Surrey community will be profound.
• More noise from more movements and new approaches.
• 700-plus homes will be demolished. The government will expect the South East to accommodate the extra housing when we all feel we are being asked to take too much development already.
• Disgracefully there are no plans to improve public transport. The expansion will mean another 40 million journeys annually to the airport many of them through Surrey! The M25 and local roads are already saturated so we are looking at gridlock on Surrey roads.
• Spelthorne already has air quality outside of the legal minima which come into force in 2010. So much for the government's pledge to only allow development if air quality measures are met.

John Doran said "The Liberal Democrats are the only major party which is against the expansion of south-east airports. Surrey Conservatives showed their true colours (certainly not Green!) when they refused to allow discussion at full council due to "lack of information". Consequently there will be no opportunity for full council to discuss this major issue for Surrey residents before the closing date of the government's consultation on 27th February. Once again Surrey Tories stifle debate."

Ian Beardsmore, a county councillor whose division borders the airport, said 'Our environment and road network cannot sustain any more development at Heathrow. We do not need the extra jobs and no jobs are at risk. Anyone supporting this is supporting the loss of 680 acres of Green Belt. Given the threat we are all facing from over development this is madness. While the Conservatives, like the government, seem more interested in turning a fast buck rather than climate change, Liberal Democrats put the environment first and say no to further expansion.'