Tag: airport expansion

• Airport expansion “risks lose-lose”

  A parliamentary committee has published a report on the government’s plans to add more airport capacity, the gist of which is that both the economic case and the climate impact are distinctly dodgy.

  It follows ministers talking up plans to add a new runway to Heathrow, despite claiming that it will “only go ahead if it aligns with our legal obligations on climate change”.

  Adding to the scepticism from Transport Committee chair Ruth Cadbury that I reported on Wednesday, the Environmental Audit Committee states starkly:

  Whilst the Government support for airport expansion has been largely based on its expectation of economic growth, the Government has been unable to direct the Committee to any evidence that supports its assertion.

  

  On climate change, the committee says:

  The mitigation measures the Government is relying on to decarbonise the industry, primarily Sustainable Aviation Fuel, efficiency savings and emissions offsetting, each have their limits. However, the Government has so far not factored in these limitations. This leaves substantial risk to the UK target of Net Zero by 2050.

  Summing it all up, it says:

  The Government is yet to set out how it will ensure climate, environment and biodiversity targets can be delivered whilst consenting to airport expansion; and what level of economic growth the UK can expect from this significant infrastructure development.

  (more…)

  2025.10.24

• Heathrow “struggling” with record passenger numbers

  Heathrow airport reported record September passenger numbers, which some might think is a bad thing in a climate emergency, but the (London) Standard thinks is inadequate.

  The airport announced that:

  Heathrow welcomed nearly 7.4 million passengers last month, making it our busiest September ever and rounding off a record-breaking summer. It’s a clear sign that Heathrow is the UK’s hub for global travel.

  

  It may be stating the obvious, but passengers and flights are not the same metric and more passengers can fly on the same number of flights (or fewer), particularly if planes are getting bigger.

  But the Standard reported the same “record-breaking summer” as very much glass half-full:

  (more…)

  2025.10.13

• Starmer becomes a Blairite clone

  I’ve just caught up with what Keir Starmer told Metro about the government’s mindless “builders not blockers” decision to back more flights at Gatwick.

  When asked whether he is a climate doomer, the PM told Metro: ‘I strongly believe that we can get this right, which means we can have the expansion of the growth that we need at the same time as meeting our climate obligations, and we can do both.

  ‘In other words, you don’t have to choose one or the other.

  ‘You don’t have to sort of say to people nobody can travel in the way they want anymore.

  ‘I think that would be completely the wrong thing to do.”

  

  He disingenuously portrayed the issue as a binary choice between a pragmatic policy and a total extreme; you either add more flights or say to people “nobody can travel in the way they want anymore”.

  Nobody.

  It goes without saying that people are flying from all over the country, including Gatwick, at the moment and that this won’t stop if you have *the same number of flights*.

  This is the sort of nonsense that should be beneath a prime minister, but no, it’s classic Blairism.

  A good few years ago I wrote how Ed Milband, a cabinet minister in the last Labour government who was reportedly opposed to its then plans to expand Heathrow, told a conference:

  We’re not going to tell people they can’t fly.

  It was a lie then and it’s a lie now. At the time I called Miliband a “gutless Blairite clone”. The same could be said about Starmer.

  2025.10.06

• Cadbury challenges minister to square the circle on aviation emissions

  The chair of the House of Commons Transport Select Committee has issued a statement that calls out a lot of the uncertainty and inconsistency in the government’s decision to approve Gatwick Airport’s expansion plans.

   Ruth Cadbury MP said:

  If the Government is determined to expand England’s airports, Gatwick’s second runway is among the lower hanging fruit.

  They continue to say they are committed to reducing carbon emissions, but we are waiting for them to show us how they will square the circle of doing so whilst enabling thousands more flights.

  

  (more…)

  2025.09.23

• Reeves boosts climate change for a slogan

  The line from chancellor Rachel Reeves that the green light for more carbon emissions from Gatwick shows that the government is “backing the builders, not the blockers” tells you all you need to know about how serious a government this is.

  It is government by slogan and forget the climate emergency.

  On LinkedIn, Alex Chapman of the New Economics Foundation points out just how flimsy the economic case is, highlighting a section of the decision letter that shows that the socioeconomic case only provides a “moderate” case in favour of Gatwick’s plans to fly more people abroad to boost other countries’ economies.

  

  Chapman also points out that ministers are trashing their own climate plans:

  

  He concludes:

  Proceeding was the politically easiest option, but it was not responsible, nor was it evidence-based.

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  2025.09.22