Caroline Pidgeon AM joined Vince Cable MP speaking at a rally organised by HACAN against expansion at Heathrow on Tuesday 3rd March.
"Given that there are 725,000 people affected by noise from Heathrow – no other airport in Europe comes close to this figure. AND a new runway would mean an additional 150,000 people under the flight path. It is simply unthinkable that a third runway could be built at Heathrow" commented Caroline.
Other key messages from Caroline's speech include:
"Existing capacity in the south east must be used more effectively. In summer 2012, 47% of runway slots at Stansted weren’t used, 51% at Luton, and 12% at Gatwick. Instead of a new runway at Heathrow, we should be prioritising improved rail links to the airports that already have spare capacity. It’s good to see that the line to Stansted will be four-tracked in the not too distant future."
"Even at Heathrow, though it is full, we know the terminals can handle a further 20 million passengers a year. Heathrow could look to shift to more long-haul flights or larger aircraft to increase passengers."