Siân Berry, the Green Mayor of London candidate, has hit out at Boris Johnson’s scheme to construct a new island airport in the Thames.
She pledged instead to use the estuary to provide cheap, clean energy for London, and to replace the failing City Airport with a Green Industry Park and affordable housing.
Siân drew attention to the economic cost of aviation, and the apparent hypocrisy in Johnson’s decision to appear alongside her and the other candidates in a Greenpeace advert against the expansion of Heathrow, whileplotting a whole new airport in London.
Siân said:
“This is the most ridiculous idea we’ve heard from the Johnson camp so far. Aviation is doing our city no favours. We need fewer airports in London, not more, for economic, health and environmental reasons.
“For every pound spent by visitors to this country, we spend £2.20 overseas, so any expansion in flights is simply encouraging more money to fly away, with a predictable effect on jobs. Persistent noise increases the risk of depression and other illnesses, and air pollution causes asthma, emphysema and cancers.
“And not forgetting that aviation is the fastest-growing contributor to climate change, which is already affecting every one of us, from increased flooding in England to genocidal water wars in Africa.
“Johnson wants to build an island airport in the Thames Estuary. But the right option for London is to provide cheap energy by using the estuary for renewable energy.
“As Mayor, I would stand firm against the expansion of Heathrow, reject plans for any more airports or runways around London, and close down the failing City Airport, replacing it with a Green Industries Park so that we can generate jobs and bring skilled manufacturing back to the East End.
“Again, Boris Johnson has shown that his green credentials simply do not exist. While he is happy to object to aircraft approaching Heathrow disturbing his Oxfordshire home, he couldn’t care less about the effect of ever-expanding air travel on working people here in London, or on the huge problem of climate change.”