Aviation is a major contributor to Climate Change and is growing
rapidly. According to the Government aviation accounts for 13% of
climate change damage. Although it has set a target of reducing
carbon dioxide emissions by 60% by 2050 its Aviation White Paper
of 2003 supported more than doubling the number of air passengers
by 2030. While other sectors are reducing their contributions to
Climate Change, damage from aviation is increasing massively.
Much of the proposed expansion of aviation is based on the growth
forecasts in the Government’s White Paper on Aviation. This
was reviewed in 2006 but it remains, in our view, out of date, ignroing
the impact of sustained fuel price rises and growing concerns about
Climate Change.
There is now a widespread concensus that there is a need to address
the fact that aviation does not properly pay for its environmental
impact. We do not want the Midlands countryside to be sacrificed
for proposals that may not be justifiable in the end.
We are, therefore, opposed to large scale expansion of the airports
in this region. We favour a managed, planned approach in which the
economic benefits and disbenefits of aviation are balanced against
the environmental and other damage it causes.
Aviation growth also has major impacts on the areas around expanding
airports, including noise impacts, light pollution and loss of tranquility.
Aviation fuels traffic growth on many major roads. New industrial
estates, warehousing, offices, housing, shops and other services
which cluster around airports further eat into the countryside.
There are a wide range of airports in our region. Birmingham International
Airport is the largest airport and is currently set to almost treble
the number of passengers by 2030. But Coventry Airport has also
expanded greatly in recent years and would like to grow even larger.
Wolverhampton Business Airport has also put forward plans for expansion
in the past.
The expansion of scheduled passenger services at these larger airports
tends to push other aviation, such as business jets, to smaller
airfields scattered in the countryside. For example, Tatenhill Airfield,
near Burton-upon-Trent in Staffordshire has recently lodged expansions
plans in what it describes as “the heart of the British countryside”.
Most of these issues are being reconsidered in Phase 2 of the Regional
Spatial Strategy review. Neither the present policy nor the proposed
changes are, in our view, adequate. We are arguing for a much less
ambiguous policy which adopts the managed approach to aviation that
the West Midlands badly needs.
Midlands Aviation Master Plan ...
Since
2005 there have been significant developments in aviation,
including the Public Inquiry into Coventry Airport's expansion
and the development of the airport's Masterplan for Birmingham.
While these developments mean that not everything in our report
is up to date: however we still believe its analysis of the
issues remains relevant.
In
October 2005, environmental campaigners in the East and West
Midlands published the Midlands Aviation Master Plan, a comprehensive
look at the future of aviation in the two regions. CPRE West
Midlands was prominently involved in writing and editing the
document.
The report challenges the many misguided assumptions in the
Government's Air Transport White Paper and shows how sensibly
controlling growth in the number of flights would benefit
the countryside and the wider environment. It argues that
there is no need for new runways in the Midlands, and that
smaller airports such as Coventry and Wolverhampton do not
need to expand. It calls for a sustainable balance between
economic, social and environmental objectives for aviation.
Click
here to see the Master Plan (pdf file)
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