Airport expansion is ‘triple blow to countryside’

The Airport Commission published an interim report today setting out options including a third runway at Heathrow, lengthening an existing runway at Heathrow, a new runway at Gatwick and a new airport in the Isle of Grain in north Kent.

Shaun Spiers, chief executive of the Campaign to Protect Rural England , said:

‘We oppose the expansion of airports in England. The expansion of Gatwick or Heathrow would be a triple blow to the countryside.

“Not only will building new runways have a terrible impact on the landscape, extra planes overhead could destroy the tranquillity of swathes of the countryside and more flights will jeopardise this government’s commitment to reduce carbon emissions.

‘Instead, we should make better use of our existing capacity for example by chartering bigger plans and controlling the types of journeys that are made on our runways.

“We also have a huge rail network with enormous potential to be revitalised and Government should encourage and incentivise people to take the train for journeys that are just a few hundred miles.”

London’s Mayor Boris Johnson has also come out against Heathrow expansion, as set out by Sir Howard Davies, who chairs the commission. A full report is due to be published in summer 201.

"We can’t keep circling over Croydon or indeed north London,” he told journalists at a lunch in Westminster today.

“The reality is that Sir Howard probably began with a shortlist that didn’t include much apart from Heathrow, and he was told to have another think, and that’s good. I will work with that."