Action Briefing Oct 2003 - Nov 2003
	The Newsletter of Birmingham Friends of the Earth

Aviation: a hole in the Region's pocket

Friends of the Earth has calculated that Birmingham is losing £152.9 million a year, and the West Midlands Region £824.29 million a year, because of the huge tax exemptions given to the aviation industry. We want the Government to make aviation pay its way and spend the money on improving public transport and other essential services in the region.

Tax-free aircraft fuel, VAT exemptions on tickets and aircraft, and, outside the European Union, Duty Free shopping, make up the net total of £9.2 billion in indirect subsidies the UK aviation industry currently receives every year.

Friends of the Earth worked out how this total subsidy could be allocated to the regions, counties and districts in the UK using a simple pro rata basis based on population size.

And in case you were wondering what else we could spend the money on if it were not snapped up by the world’s most polluting form of transport:*

• £824 million would pay for 16,486 additional teachers, nurses or police officers;
• £135 million would pay for a refurbishment of Birmingham New Street station’s ‘passenger circulation area’;
• £940 million would pay for the extensions to the West Midlands Metro; and
• £1.5 billion would pay for the complete re-development of New Street station.

Figures for all local authorities in the UK can be viewed at www.foe.co.uk/resource/evidence/uk_aviation_subsidies.pdf

James Botham

Take Action
Write to your MP asking them to sign Parliamentary Early Day Motion (EDM) 1688, calling on the Secretary of State for Transport Alistair Darling to: make aviation accountable for its external costs and prevent the industry from further undermining national air pollution, sustainability and climate change targets; reduce and eliminate the tax concessions; safeguard the countryside, biodiversity and heritage against airport development; protect communities and the tranquillity of the countryside from aircraft noise; and explore the potential of high-speed rail as an alternative to short-haul flights.

You can check if your MP has signed EDM 1688 by visiting http://edm.ais.co.uk. So far, Lynne Jones (Labour, Selly Oak) and Janet Dean (Labour, Burton) are to date (Sept 2003) the only West Midlands MPs to have signed so get writing to the others!

*per passenger kilometre.