Report blasts plans to expand Gatwick

Persuading people to take fewer flights is the only way of easing congestion in the skies and curbing greenhouse gases, according to the South East England Regional Assembly (Seera).

Increasing airport capacity - the option put forward in Transport Secretary Alistair Darling's airport expansion plans - would be damaging to the environment, the group claims.

Business leaders across Sussex have criticised Seera's findings.

They see expansion at Gatwick as key to the region's long-term economic prosperity.

Mr Darling's plans include a third runway at Heathrow and major expansion at Stansted, while land near Gatwick is being made available in case a second runway is needed.

Restrictions on expansion at Gatwick expire in 2019.

Mike Gwilliam, director of transport and planning for Seera, said there was a possible case for expansion at Stansted but was scathing about what he described as the Government's "as-much-as-you-like" policy on aviation.

He said: "It is environmentally-unsustainable, inconsistent with international policy and they have got to change it if the Prime Minister is serious about climate change.

"I know it's very difficult. People love their cheap flights and I use them myself sometimes. But that's not the point.

"We can't go on with this sort of 'as-much-as-you-like' policy on aviation."

The report, which was carried out by independent consultants and is due to be released on Thursday, has drawn fierce criticism from business leaders across Sussex.

Jeremy Taylor, chief executive of CADIA, a membership-based business association for Sussex and Surrey, said doing nothing is not an option.

He said: "It's a proven fact in business that if you stand still you fall behind and that's what will happen to Gatwick if we pursue the single runway option.

"This should not be a debate about the three airports across London competing with each other but about the UK competing with the rest of Europe and the world."

Mr Taylor said Seera's report reflected a culture of hypocrisy.

He added: "People want to live and work in the lovely South-East but they don't want to build homes.

"We all want to travel cheaply around the world but we don't want to build runways.

"But people should have more vision. If you look at how much quieter and cleaner air travel has become over the last 20 years, think how much cleaner it could be in another 20 years."

Tony Mernagh, executive director of the Brighton and Hove Economic Partnership, suggested Seera's report was idealistic and naive.

He said: "People have got the bug for cheap flights now and will not willingly give it up unless there is a fiscal incentive to do so - and that means making it more expensive.

"But the Government is on a hiding to nothing if it tries to reduce travel on cheap holiday flights because it is such a huge business now and such an economic driver.

"We have to accept air travel ia polluter and look at ways of making it cleaner and reducing pollution in other ways to offset the damage it causes.

"The worst pollution is caused by cars stuck in traffic so penalising people who drive their cars to Gatwick and Heathrow might be one way of doing that."

Mark Froud, chief executive of Sussex Enterprise, said: "The South-East Plan states the South-East economy will grow by three per cent a year over the next 20 years.

"There is no way that can happen without expansion at Gatwick. That's just a flight of fancy.

"We also take great offence to unelected officials deciding policy in this way. Is is fair that people should no longer benefit from cheap air travel? How is that good for business?"

Meanwhile, the British Airports Authority (BAA) is expected to publish plans later this month to reduce pollution in the Heathrow area to comply with EU emission control directives, which currently rule out a third runway.

They are considering a compulsory ban on petrol-powered vehicles within the airport perimeter.

A voluntary ban is already in place with 60 per cent of service vehicles complying.

June 7, 2005