Argument over inclusion of second runway in regional plans
01.06.09
Campaigners have called for Birmingham Airport to permanently drop plans for a second runway, the Post reports. Chris Crean, from West Midlands Friends of the Earth, and Gerald Kells, from Campaign to Protect Rural England (CPRE), asked for assurances from the airport during a meeting to discuss planning across the region, but the airport refused to give the assurance, and pushed for its inclusion in a regional plan.
An Examination in Public into the West Midlands Regional Spatial Strategy (RSS) is exploring the implications of building more than 400,000 new homes in the region. At the meeting Mr Crean and Mr Kells called for an amendment to the document, which appears to give local authorities the option to ‘safeguard’ land near the airport to be used for a second runway. Mr Crean urged the airport to say no to expansion forever.
He said: ‘We would like to see the airport say they would never build a second runway. If the airport do not think they need the land for the runway until after 2030 and the RSS does not extend to that date, then we should take the mention of it out of this and use that land for growing food, and remove the blight on that piece of land, which is impacting local residents.’
But Stephen Hill, the airport’s head of planning, said that although the airport’s Master Plan includes no provision for a second runway before 2030, as the forecasts are reviewed over future periods, runway capacity and the need for a runway could be reconsidered.
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