Birmingham airport slams climate change committee's runway ruling
Dec 10 2009 by Christina Savvas, Birmingham Mail
BIRMINGHAM Airport bosses have slammed recommendations made by global warming experts which could see bases around London expanded at the expense of other areas of the country.
A spokesman hit out at the Committee on Climate Change after it endorsed the Government’s support for a third runway at Heathrow and suggested Gatwick as a suitable location for expansion.
The panel, set up to advise the Government on reducing greenhouse gas emissions, also proposed a restriction in growth of the number of flights available as a way of meeting emissions targets. But executives at Birmingham, which is aiming to almost double passenger capacity to 18 million by next year, with several major investment projects, said the recommendations were a hammer blow to the region’s economy in the middle of a crippling recession.
The airport has already secured planning permission for a runway extension.
A spokesman said: “We will study the Committee on Climate Change’s recommendations regarding aviation and airport growth in more detail as some of the reports of it seem bizarre.
“We are surprised and concerned that it seems to have adopted such a London-centric stance.
“To advocate massive expansion in the south-east, while denying regional airports such as Birmingham the chance to meet local demand – an objective set-out in the Government’s 2003 White Paper on Aviation – is preposterous.
“Birmingham Airport has planning permission for a runway extension.
“And if plans for High-Speed Rail are realised we could be less than 40 minutes from central London.
“Birmingham Airport runs at only about 40 per cent of capacity and could handle about another nine million passengers tomorrow within the existing infrastructure, taking the pressure off the south-east immediately.
“Birmingham, together with other regional airports, are strategic national transport assets and it is time that they were recognised as such.
“Ultimately, the whole of the UK should benefit from aviation expansion.”
n Should Birmingham Airport be expanded?
