| Topic: | Re:Re:Re:Heathrow Manipulating Consultation Process | |
| Posted by: | David Noades | |
| Date/Time: | 25/06/19 15:09:00 |
| I will reply to the farce of a 'Consultation' that Heathrow has put out there, but to be honest, I think this may all become somewhat of a mute point. As we all know, there is currently huge pressure to reduce noxious emissions from vehicles of all kinds via the use of LEZs etc. Heathrow promises to put an LEZ in place at the Airport itself if it gets to build R3, but this is of course completely and utterly pointless, as the vast majority of emissions in this area come from the combination of the planes at Heathrow and cars on the M4 / M25 (the busiest stretches of Motorway in Europe) and these emissions already hugely exceed the current regulations and Heathrow R3 will only increase these emissions. The recent commitment by the Government to be Net Carbon-Neutral by 2050 will require some pretty drastic action against ALL producers of CO2 - against this backdrop, an Airport asking to increase its traffic by 50% would be about as acceptable to the public (who will be feeling they have been 'squeezed until it hurts' to achieve this target) as privatising the NHS... Notwithstanding the comments here about the aircraft industry's attempts to reduce their reliance on fossil fuels, this is but a drop in the ocean - speaking as an Engineer, electric airliners are simply not possible in the forseeable future (small planes maybe, but not big, heavy, long range ones). No, I seriously believe that the whole Heathrow R3 thing will be quietly dropped within the next year or so, especially if (as is quite possible) we end up with another General Election in the Autumn... |