Campaigners to fight runway extension
06.10.07
Residents who were celebrating last week when they found out that Birmingham Airport was scrapping plans to build a second runway have been warned by a campaign group about the effects of a planned extension to the existing runway. Birmingham Airport anti-Noise Group (BANG) believe the airport has played down these plans in the announcement last week.
BANG is worried that local residents are being misled about the environmental consequences of the extension. The airport claims that the plan to extend the existing runway by 2012 represents an environmentally friendly alternative to a second runway, but the group disagrees.
A spokesman for BANG said: 'Although we welcome the announcement by the airport that the second runway had been postponed, residents living near Birmingham Airport and under the flight path cannot sleep easy just yet. The environmental impact of the airport is still set to increase over the next 23 years. What's more, many more people will find themselves affected who were previously spared the misery of aircraft noise pollution.'
The group also rejects the airport's argument that the extension will claw back local travellers who make longer car journeys to other airports in search of long haul flights, cutting emissions. The spokesman added: 'Overall, the airport's contribution to climate change, directly from aircraft emissions and indirectly from associated road journeys, will continue to grow.'
However, the plans were welcomed by Meriden MP Caroline Spelman, who said the extension was essential for the local economy. She said: 'The runway extension will allow more long haul flights and I believe for the sake of the region it has to go ahead. But I will fight hard for the mitigating measures in relation to that extension.'
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