RAPID RESPONSES
Flight of fancy
[Re:A third runway at Heathrow isn’t enough. Let’s allow regional airports to take off, yesterday]
Paul Kehoe sets out some salient facts based on the business evidence. Integrated transport is the way forward, along with removal of the complex structures imposed on the aviation industry to control prices, including fuel subsidies. Part of the solution is a high speed rail link between our major cities. I’m saddened, however, that Kehoe fails to allude to the environmental elements of the debate. We’ve signed up to legallybinding climate targets and aviation growth takes us in the wrong direction. I, and the Royal Society for the Protection of Birds, are opposed to new airports. We favour smart development, harnessing the benefits of nature to add value to the economic and social gains which new infrastructure brings, especially if it spreads those benefits across the UK.
Tim Webb, RSPB