Airport expansion

What is airport expansion?

The aviation industry experienced massive growth in the 1980s and 1990s. The UK was one of the principal beneficiaries of this growth, and today, it has an aviation sector that is second only to that of the USA.

Nearly 200 million people passed through UK airports in 2002, and this is projected to more than double by 2020 and reach 500 million by 2030.

The government published a white paper on The Future of Air Transport in 2003, setting out a 30-year framework for the growth of the aviation industry.

But with environmental concerns about the negative impact of aviation on carbon emissions growing, the tension between maintaining Britain's prominence as an air transport hub and its green credentials has never been stronger.

Background

Economic growth and globalisation have seen demand for air travel grow rapidly in the last 20 years, and all the economic and demographic evidence points to this trend accelerating. At the same time, planning and constructing new infrastructure takes an extremely long time and history has shown the construction of new airports and the expansion of existing ones to be highly controversial.

The expansion of Heathrow Airport provided a landmark case in the history of such projects, following BAA's application for a fifth terminal in 1993.

In the face of massive local opposition to the proposals, a public inquiry was convened in 1995. It was not completed until 1999, and at three years and ten months was the longest planning inquiry in British history. It was finally given the green light by then transport secretary Stephen Byers in November 2001. The Queen finally opened Terminal 5 in March 2008.

A decentralised approach to infrastructure planning has led to distorted provision. The economic dominance of the south-east, and the lower costs of expanding an existing airport over building a new one from scratch, led the bulk of the industry to wish to further expand the London airports - principally Heathrow, Gatwick and Stansted. BAA runs all three of these airports. Heathrow and Gatwick, moreover, are normally 'full' all year round, and remaining capacity in the south-east is being used up rapidly.

In the north and Scotland the debate is slightly different, as these regions are keen to develop their airports and infrastructure. They believe that easier access to the Europe's economic hubs would help develop their economies.

In 2003 the government reached the view that a long-term strategic response to the problem of aviation growth was the only answer, and in 2000 launched a series of regional consultation documents, followed in 2003 by the white paper. It included proposals for second runways at Stansted, Heathrow and Birmingham airports, along with runway lengthening at Liverpool John Lennon, Newcastle, Teeside International, Leeds Bradford International and Inverness airports. Expansion of terminal facilities was proposed for a number of other airports.

In February 2005 anti-expansion campaigners won a landmark high court victory and obtained a judicial review of the plans, but the ensuing judgement did not reverse the trend of overall expansion in the UK.

Controversies

Although they create jobs and bring in money to local and national economies, airports also create noise, pollution and transport problems as well as taking up vast tracts of land. As such, proposals for new airports or to expand existing ones invariably generate massive public controversy, and require the balancing of economic against environmental concerns.

The government and the industry regard the economic case as compelling: the white paper puts the contribution of aviation to GDP at £13 billion or two per cent of the annual total. Although the UK is currently in a strong position, it faces serious challenges from other countries. The Heathrow-Gatwick hub's main competitors - Amsterdam's Schipol, Paris' Charles de Gaulle, and Frankfurt Am Main - are all actively developing additional runway capacity, which could deprive London of its pre-eminent position in European aviation, to the massive detriment of the UK economy. Aviation is necessarily an international business, and any slack released by the UK will be picked up by a competitor, it is claimed.

At the same time, the government defends airport expansion in terms of personal choice. If people want to fly, it is argued (and the growth projections suggest they do), they should be able to. On this, and the previous competitive grounds, the government and the industry reject the idea of attempting to limit demand by "pricing people out of flying" as an alternative to increasing supply.

However, airport expansion is at the same time one of the biggest subjects of environmental protest of recent times. Indeed, during the pre-white paper consultation, it became clear that a number of previously favoured proposals, such as the building of new airports at Cliffe in Kent and Rugby in Warwickshire, would not get off the ground.

Aircraft emissions are known to be particularly pollutant. Research published by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change in 1999 found that, in 1992, aviation was responsible for 3.5 per cent of the total global contribution to climate change. This figure was expected to rise to between four per cent and 17 per cent by 2050. On the ground, the Department for Transport admits that as many as 35,000 people living near to Heathrow Airport suffer from poor air quality, primarily caused by nitrogen dioxide and particulate matter.

Studies have also shown aircraft noise, particularly at night, can have damaging health effects on those continually exposed to it. A landmark European court of human rights case in 2003 found that the government was permitted to balance the economic interests of airlines in allowing night flights against the right to sleep of those living near to airports.

Other objections frequently cited against airport expansion include the impact on overstretched ground transport infrastructure, the damaging impact on local house prices, and damage to the local landscape. Specific local issues also impinge upon public feeling: the Cliffe proposal was hampered by its siting on a bird reserve, generating not only concerns about wildlife, but about aircraft safety.

In December 2006, transport secretary Douglas Alexander reaffirmed the government's commitment to airport expansion in a progress report on the white paper. He said the government continued to support new runways at Stansted and Heathrow.

In virtually every area where proposals have been made, local campaign groups have developed (eg Hacan Clearskies at Heathrow, Stop Stansted Expansion at Stansted), alongside the "traditional" environmental lobby. In 2003, a new national group called Airportwatch was launched, explicitly to campaign against airport expansion.

An inquiry into Stansted's expansion began on May 30th 2007, complete with a demonstration by Stop Stansted Expansion. It followed the rejection by Uttlesford district council of BAA's plans to increase annual passenger numbers from 25 million to 35 million and permissible air traffic movements from 241,000 to 264,000.

The opening of Heathrow's Terminal 5 was preceded by a wave of protests. Five demonstrators from Plane Stupid scaled the Palace of Westminster in late February 2008 while a climate camp outside Heathrow in August 2007 won much publicity.

Statistics

32 million passengers used UK airports in 1970, compared to 189 million in 2002. By 2020, that figure is expected to be between 350 and 420 million.

70 per cent of all visits to the UK in 2002 were made by air

20 per cent of all international passengers start or finish their journeys at UK airports

The Heathrow Terminal 5 inquiry was in session for 525 days, 734 witnesses representing more than 50 major parties gave evidence and were cross-examined, and 5550 documents were submitted

Statistics 1 to 3: (Source: Department for Transport, Aviation White Paper, 2003); Statistic 4: (Source, British Airways, 2004)

Quotes

"Here we set out a framework for the future development of air transport over the next 30 years. It is essential we plan ahead now - our future prosperity depends on it."

Alistair Darling MP, transport secretary, foreword to the Aviation white paper, 2003

"Earlier this year, the government published an energy white paper setting out its strategy for tackling global climate change, and set challenging but necessary targets for greenhouse gas emissions…Today's air transport white paper undermines those targets and continues to favour commerce over vital carbon dioxide reduction measures."

Sir Tom Blundell, Royal Commission on Environmental Pollution, 2003

"The huge expansion of airports and air traffic outlined in the white paper will render impossible government efforts to adhere to its own target of reducing carbon dioxide emissions."

Sir Jonathan Porritt, Sustainable Development Commission, 2003