The government decision to give the go ahead to a £2.2 billion plan for a second runway at Gatwick airport will do “active harm”, according to a Brighton MP.
Siân Berry, the Green MP for Brighton Pavilion, said: “This awful decision is a triumph for lobbying over logic.
“Despite clear reasons to reject this proposal based on noise, climate change emissions and transport gridlock, the Transport Secretary has decided to side with Gatwick bosses and plough ahead with these reckless plans.
“The excuses found to blast loopholes through conditions on resident noise and traffic gridlock set out clearly by the Planning Inspectorate earlier this year make a mockery of every hard-working resident group, environmental organisation and local council that engaged in good faith with this process.
“Undercutting this nonsense, is this government’s consistent failure to treat the climate emergency with any sense of urgency at all.
“Far more than extra flights from Gatwick for the richest, most frequent flyers, the public overwhelmingly wants action on climate change – and once again, this Labour government is not just failing but doing active harm.”
Labour Chancellor Rachel Reeves said that a second runway would mean lower costs for a family holiday and a greater choice of destination as well as more good jobs.
At the airport today (Monday 22 September), she said: “Today, this government are backing a second runway here at Gatwick.
“That’s in addition to our commitments to a third runway at Heathrow, small modular reactors and a new nuclear power station in Suffolk, backing energy projects and transport projects right around the country.
“This extra runway at Gatwick will mean that people going on holiday will have a greater choice of destinations. It will mean lower costs for a family holiday.
“And it will also mean more good jobs paying decent wages through this injection of cash into our economy.
“We said as a government we will back the builders and not the blockers and that is exactly what we are doing with this announcement.”
Not as damaging as Starmer rewarding terrorists to to save himself from his useful idiot back benchers.
Perhaps these anti-airport MPs could get advised by industry experts rather than ignorantly jumping on eco bandwagons.
There are many ways to reduce emissions – for example by switching to renewable fuels (including aviation biofuels and green hydrogen), together with newer aircraft with more efficient engines.
Not as damaging as preventing economic growth and employment by some MP like Sian
What’s the betting that locally Labour councillors now come out in support the Gatwick expansion plans, despite them saying around the 2023 local elections they opposed the idea.
I may be proven wrong, but the pattern of u-turns from them to date, and their tendency be dictated to by Westminster and tow the national party line has been their usual response to anything decided by any Labour Minister. It’s so frustrating as it makes all of their local pleadges and promises just look like lip service and they pur Westminster policy above anything else.
Superb news. All those juicy extra profits going to the French, Californian, South Korean, UAE and Australian investors/owners makes my patriotic heart sing. Looking forward to applying for one of the thousands of no doubt extremely well remunerated jobs provided by our overseas overlords.
Cost? £2.2bn – not £2.2m
What’s a few billion between friends!?! Thanks, Matt. Sorry about the typo. My mistake – and now corrected.
Just shows how ignorant and lazy Sian is on the subject. “Far more than extra flights from Gatwick for the richest, most frequent flyers….”
LGW has, pretty much since the creation/ invention of the package holiday been known as “The bucket and spade airport”. It’s not a hub and is actually pretty poorly served when it comes to domestic connections. For this reason, whilst there are some, it has never been an airport with high FF pax. As essentially the birth place of southern UK package holidays the market sub sector has always and continues to drive lower priced, more competitive per seat fares. EasyJet is the airports Prime Carrier and has been for a decade now. All this shines a light on how lazy and utterly false her cut and paste Party Talking Point of “… for the richest….” is. Tbh I’d go so far as to say her failure to do even the most rudimentary of research or to have actually learnt about the place whilst still deeming to preach ( and lie) to us smacks of arrogance.
Noise: A legally binding monitoring of such is in place and will be widened and upgraded. Those qualifying will be entitled to triple glazing at the airports cost. Triple glazing is the most energy efficient type available in mass production. Does she now not like energy saving?
Gridlock: There’s decades old town wide express bus services 24hrs a day to the airport. As with trains there are financial incentives and/or interest free loans to encourage staff to use them. These are offered above government scheme levels. On trains. It’s the most rail connected airport in the UK and a sizeable percentage of users arrive via this method. When Railtrack redeveloped the station lgw worked with them and privately paid for an additional platforms construction which wasn’t in RTs strategic plan. The Highways Agency were provided additional funding from the airport to enhance A23 and airport links more than was costed by government.
Disclosure: I don’t work at, for or near the airport. Not paid to comment. I simply did some basic homework unlike Ms Berry
To be fair she wouldn’t be much of a Green MP if she approved of the plans. It’s hardly news is it
Excellent point, Kreezly.
The Greens are like that annoying itch you get on some inaccessible part of your body. Eventually it goes away and you forget about it
Bring on Gatwick and the gas works in Brighton too,there’s a lot of people out there who work in construction, and to say we lack in decent infrastructure isn’t the word, I wonder how many times a year she uses Gatwick?.
We have to wonder how much Phelim would welcome this, so that he could fly to more Climate Change conferences?
Our latest Green MP seems to have this issue more on message.
But do we want the economy to grow in line with public demands, or not?
For sure, the expansion of the economy is only one solution.
Those already sitting comfortably on previous capitalist expansion, will probably agree with the Greens’ ecological concerns. .
Whereas those struggling to find a home, or else to pay their bills in the face of high outgoings and high rents, and with low local wages, will not.
Let’s not forget the damage the Greens did to Brighton and as I look out at the Eyesore of a lift that as cost the local tax payers dearly we are reminded of their total lack of business sence. We travel,we relay on imports and exports , we need airports . Just think of the employment opportunities this will bring