Welcoming the news that campaigners have won a High Court battle over plans for a third runway at Heathrow Airport, Welsh Liberal Democrat Spokesperson on the Environment and Sustainability, Mike German AM, has criticised the Labour UK Government for wasting precious time pursuing a misguided transport policy which would have created a climate change disaster.
Commenting Mike German AM:
“Last year Liberal Democrat analysis of the economic benefits of a third runway at Heathrow highlighted the huge error made by the Government in using outdated figures, which underestimated by several billions of pounds the financial impact of the extra greenhouse gases and offsetting the pollution caused by a third runway at Heathrow.
“This hugely incompetent mistake and the High Court ruling against the Government’s attempt to push ahead with a third runway at Heathrow is symbolic of a tired Labour Party that has run out of ideas and run out of steam.
“Labour have had their head in the clouds over a misguided transport policy and have wasted precious time that could have been better spent pursuing more sustainable transport plans that will benefit the economy and our environment. The Conservative policy is also in disarray as while they oppose expansion at Heathrow they support the expansion of other airports in the South East instead.
“Liberal Democrats in Wales and Westminster have been united in opposing a new runway at Heathrow. Heathrow is big enough and there must be no third runway and no expansion of other airports in the South East either. Instead we have identified the money to invest in improvements to public transport, to invest in a high speed rail network and get people off the road and onto the rail.
“In Wales we have identified practical measures such as supporting the proposed Gwent Parkway station, at the site of the current Severn Tunnel Junction, to reduce the number of people trying to park in Newport before travelling on elsewhere. We believe that transport should become part of an enlarged Department for the Environment, to recognise that transport is the fastest growing source of domestic carbon emissions and so policies on the environment and transport must be more integrated.”
