The Transport Select committee’s rejection of a Thames Estuary Airport will not be the final word so we won’t be cracking open the fair-trade fizzy pop just yet – that should come later when the Davies commission (we hope) hammers home the final nail.
The Thames and its mighty estuary has been through a lot. Spanish armadas, centuries of international shipping, heavy industry, intensive farming, a sunken ship stuffed to the gills with explosives and the 6 million people who live around it have not yet overwhelmed the >1000 km2 of mudflats and marshes sat on London’s doorstep.
Our work with the Thames estuary Futurescape, Wallasea Island and the multiple designations protecting these areas are all there for a reason. To protect and support the hundreds of waders, wildfowl, rare invertebrates and endangered mammals that depend upon these habitats. So it is fantastic that the committee specifically mention the impact a Thames Estuary Airport would have on wildlife in their explanation of its rejection - alongside the poor economic outlook.
Whilst everyone in the Thames Estuary will have collectively let out a sigh of relief today, the news was rather more alarming for west Londoners. The Select Committee firmly backed a new runway at Heathrow, and even encouraged an assessment of a proposal to move Heathrow West and build a fourth runway.
Its not just local residents who should be disappointed by this conclusion, however; Aviation emissions are currently increasing, and unconstrained aviation expansion will only accelerate this. Yet all countries in the world, including the UK, have committed to reduce emissions in line with keeping climate change to under an average global temperature increase of 2 degrees Celsius It’s increasingly clear that achieving this goal will mean we need to make faster and deeper emission reductions, and a new hub airport or expanded Heathrow will make this harder to achieve. It’s time that MPs and Government began to connect the dots and prioritised keeping our climate safe over short-term growth.