doesn't anyone except me care about the Heathrow expansion?

[jujumaman]

Surprised there's no thread that I can see on this.

I find the hypocrisy and short termism involved in allowing the third runway quite incredible.

G Brown is banning conventional lightbulbs while giving the green light to making Heathrow even bigger, with all the eco implications.

Saying the world will shun us if we don't have a third runway is nonsense. The world will continue to use London as an aviation hub because of where London is situated between the US and Asia, not because Heathrow has some intrinsic allure.

From what I've gathered in 20 years time Heathrow will be obsolete as we'll all be unable to afford to fly any more. In the meantime

I really care. I live locally to Heathrow so not so much for the green (carbon emissions) issues, but more for noise pollution, air pollution and total lies that politicians tell over this.

Its crap. Interesting debate on this on question time last night.

IMO, if it goes ahead, in a few years time they'll be telling us they need a 4th and 5th runway etc etc. Why does it have to be Heathrow anyway? Why can't a hub airport be based in the North of England where there is more space? In any event, I don't buy all this economic necessity business.

And that's the thing, why not somewhere else? Like the thames estuary or north but wiht great train links.

Perhaps we are the only ones that care....

I care but am feeling a bit overwhelmed with news atm!

I care. Same reasons as OnelieIn and also the destruction of and disruption to the people of Sipson.
I was very cross yesterday, then Boris announced he'd fight it,which made me . I don't think the runway will happen though.

There was a thread on this - Aviatrix started it.

And I started one in chat because it was so quiet in news. It seems people do care whether it will make a blind bit of difference is another matter

I'm completely against it for all sorts of reasons.

Travel within Europe should be by rail where possible. There should be higher taxes on journeys by air for short distances and rail fares should be cheaper particularly in this country. Jobs could be created building decent railways instead of building a 3rd runway.

Flying is obviously necessary to travel further afield but I'm sure there are so many unecessary journeys made...such as all those fact finding missions by governments. Now there is video conferencing a lot of business can be done using this technology rather than travelling 12 hours for a 3 hour meeting.

As for extending Heathrow, it is complete madness. yes- how dare the government stop us buying lightbulbs, and try to charge us more tax for running a normal family car when they are going ahead with this stupid third runway.

Appart from all the noise and other pollution making Heathrow bigger will mean more cars driving there. The M25 is already full to capacity in the area near Heathrow..are they going to make the M25 20 lane next to cope with all the traffic?

Agree happywomble they were talking about the M4 being able to cope last night on question time but no-one seemed to consider the effect on the M25! Its like roads the more you build the greater the demand surely?

Boris Johnson's Thames Estuary idea (always a non starter due to the huge construction cost and travelling distance to get to) has hopefully now been put to bed by the Airbus Hudson river crash, as this part of Kent is a hub for migrating birds.

Hmmm

Still a bit saddened at such a small response both here and on chat. But I guess that means most people don't care, so the silent majority is backing it

Honestly, no I don't care it's rubbish to say in 20 years we won't be able to afford to fly anywhere, my MIL still goes on holidays twice a year on a state pension.
I agree the hypocrasy though Emma Thompson made me laugh out loud, she walked to the Oscar's did she ?

Hypocrisy, i should say sorry typing too fast.

I care.

Ohbollox

Sorry, but you don't sound the most clued up on this subject. Prices of oil and gas are rising all the time and so are air fares which have been ludicrously cheap for the past decade. The consensus is saying the era of cheap flying is over - unless state pensions are going to suddenly leap 1000 per cent in the next 20 years, which would be nice but unlikely

Prices of oil and gas flucuate, they have actually come down recently which is not to say they won't rise again of course, but relative to people's income flying is not prohibitively expensive.
I actually flew to australia last year for less than in 1998.
People will not go back to a week in Margate now they have had a fortnight in Spain.

Yes, flying is cheaper now as opposed to a decade ago but oil and gas are running out and the government is going to tax flying to

I think people will have to get used to a fortnight in Margate. They won't be happy. But they won't have much choice.

I care.

I think its an outrageously shortsighted idea.

I care but all my protesting energy is being used up over the new runway at Stansted. Fucking government. Villages destroyed. Going back on their word etc. You know what's it's like. Maybe we should all join forces and say NO MORE RUNWAYS fullstop

I think there is too much air travel already and it should be reduced.

It is possible to get to many places without flying - lots of high speed rail lines being built in Europe. You can get cruises to the caribbean starting in Southampton I believe!

I think people should be allowed to go abroad for holidays by plane but should pay a proper price for the pollution they are causing. Oil prices should also rise as it is becoming a scarce resource. If air travel becomes more expensive people will still fly but less often. Some business travel needs to be done by air but it is ridiculous to go by plane from london to manchester for eg. This type of route could be scrapped leaving more space on runways for long haul flights.

The government could easily create as many jobs by improving the rail network.

They are so shortsighted.

Ohbollox - it is not a question of whether we can afford to fly to Spain or wherever. The question is do we want more and more runways to be built and villages knocked down in the process, extra noise of planes landing and taking off over more peoples houses. More road networks to take people to the ever expanding airports? So many planes in the air that there is even more risk of mid air collisons (there have been several near misses in recent years)...do you not care what happens to the green space in this country, where your children and grandchildren will grow up?