Two years after local residents and environmentalists successfully stopped the expansion of Heathrow, plans for a third runway are back. Unsurprisingly, the aviation industry is again pushing very hard for them to go through.
Legally, the government says that it has to allow the lobbying. That does not mean that it has to pay any attention. The fact that the British government appears to be wavering is worrying.
A third runway at Heathrow would cost people their homes, ruin the lives of residents under the new flight paths and, of course, enormously add to the UK's carbon footprint, wrecking any plans to cut carbon emissions. The alternative is more and better high speed rail, and this is where efforts should be focused.
Ask Cameron to stand firm on the issue and not give in to industry bullying.
We the undersigned ask that you do not submit to pressure from the aviation industry to build a third runway at Heathrow. This would be environmentally disastrous, cost people their homes and greatly add to noise and air pollution in the area. Any economic arguments for the third runway are short-sighted in the extreme. If this government is serious about being "the greenest government ever" it should be working on reducing the country’s carbon footprint, not increasing it. Better rail links to and from Heathrow are a great idea. Another runway is not.
Thank you for your attention.
