Aberdeen Campaign against Climate Change demonstrate against airport expansion
Alan Fleming | 22.12.2006 17:54 | Climate Chaos | Ecology
Demonstrators outside Aberdeen Town House
A detailed 3 page report on why airport expansion was not good for the climate was also given to each councillor. The British Airport Authority had been claiming that the airport expansion would allow quieter, more efficient aircraft to use the airport. The report, written by members of Aberdeen Campaign against Climate Change, explained why these claims are not relevant. For example, the planned increase in air traffic would far outweigh any gains in aircraft efficiency. A longer runway allows heavier, noisier, more polluting aircraft!
The planning application, made by BAA, had been deferred four weeks earlier at a meeting of the Council’s planning committee. The three councillors who asked for the decision to be deferred, at this earlier meeting, made reference to the many emails they had received on the subject. They said that many of these mentioned that the airport expansion should not go ahead due to the impact of aviation on climate change.
However, only 6 councillors voted against the planning application at the meeting on the 13th December and more than 30 voted for it.
The good news is that the issue of climate change and aviation was raised in the local media due to the group's efforts. A picture of their protest was on the front page of the Aberdeen Press and Journal with the airport expansion referred to as "controversial".
Alan Fleming