Today, November 6th, has been designated a day of action against short haul flights. A group of local people have visited Leeds/Bradford airport in support of this event, and took part in an action to draw attention to the terrible damage that is being caused by short flights that could easily be taken by train. The group put stickers around the airport, with a variety of facts on them including details of the amount of carbon dioxide emitted by flying to a variety of destinations.

One protester, mother of two Penny Eastwood from Hebden Bridge, was arrested on a spurious charge of assaulting a police officer after being roughly prevented from continuing this vital public service.

Sam Nexter, spokesman for the group, said: “ Because aviation is the fastest growing cause of climate change, it is the responsibility of all citizens to draw attention to the alternatives, and encourage the selfish minority who continue to fly to think again about the choices that they make.” He added that “Heathrow airport is already breaching UK and EU legal limits for the high levels of nitrogen dioxide and therefore the present growth in the number of flights is probably unlawful”. This situation at Heathrow is set to be copied by airports all over the country as air traffic growth continues to expand under the government’s strategy of “predict and provide” confirmed in their recently published White Paper on Aviation. Evidence that cancer rates are higher around airports should be a concern for all residents of Yeadon and the surrounding densely populated area.

The Department for Transport’s own figures admit that 45% of flights within Europe are less than 500km. These journeys could quite easily be made by other means of transport like bus, ferry and train – all of which are over ten times less polluting. Many other facts about the true cost of flying can be found at Plane Stupid’s website: www.planestupid.com.