Birmingham airport campaigners give cool response to masterplan
01.11.05
Campaigners fighting the expansion of Birmingham Airport have given a cool response to the draft masterplan released yesterday. Birmingham Airport Anti Noise group (BANG), said the airport was expecting its neighbours to be happy with what he described as 'small mercies'.
James Botham, secretary of BANG, welcomed the emphasis Birmingham International has placed on environmental sustainability in its plans, but added: 'We remain unconvinced that growth on the scale envisaged by the master plan can be achieved without the local community suffering a significant deterioration in its quality of life.'
'The airport has admitted that day and night noise, air pollution, and road traffic will all increase as a result of the expansion. When challenged about the impacts of its planned three-fold growth, the airport has consistently evades the issue.'
'Birmingham International prefers to remind us of how much more damaging the Government's original wide-spaced second runway option would have been, but that's just not good enough. The fact that the situation could be a whole lot worse doesn't mean it couldn't be a whole lot better.'
BANG and SOAR (Solihull Opposing Additional Runways) have maintained their objection to expansion at the airport ever since the prospect of a second runway was first mooted in 2002.
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