Action Briefing Apr 2003 - May 2003
	The Newsletter of Birmingham Friends of the Earth

West Midlands News

Aviation Consultation Round 2

The Department for Transport's Consultation on the Future of Air Transport now lasts until June 30th. The new round includes Gatwick options and, as far as this region is concerned, that is the only difference. But it may still impact upon the proposals for the Rugby/Coventry super airport and the planned expansion of BIA.

Now is not the time for complacency. Campaigners in the south are far more experienced at this level than us in the West Midlands and if the Government decides that the political costs of expansion are too high in the South East then the West Midlands may well be the place that gets it. All of our arguments - the right price for air travel, the aviation sector picking up the tab for the damage it causes our economic, environmental and societal well being - still stand and we will continue to argue them at all levels.

To the west of the Conurbation there is a new focus for the campaign. In the first round the operators of Wolverhampton Business Airport began to dominate the agenda, saying they could handle so many million passengers by this and that means and reach a ludicrous 10mppa by 2015 (bigger than BIA today)! This has rightly raised the hackles of those living near to the Halfpenny Green site and active campaigns are taking off in that neck of the woods. At the same time, Telford Council have been banging on about commercial flights from RAF Cosford. Advantage West Midlands will conduct a business analysis of both sites, the results of which are due soon. This all ties in with the Western orbital debate. Our campaigns are increasingly becoming one and the same as an M42-type corridor starts to cast its shadow over the Greenbelt of South Staffordshire, East Shropshire and North Worcestershire.

Chris Crean