| The wings are coming off |
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| Written by David Cuthbertson | |
| Tuesday, 28 August 2007 | |
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So far we've been generally positive about the various Conservative policy working groups. Tax , Competitiveness, Development
and so on have all generally provided rounded and thoughtful examples
of policies the party could adopt. However it seems that the wheels may
be coming off the policy machine. The next group to report will be the
Quality of Life Policy Group headed by John Gummer and Zac Goldsmith.
The first impressions are not good. According to an article on the Daily Mail website, the report will include a call to put a moratorium on airport expansion. "The group has found that almost 20 per cent of flights from Heathrow every year are to destinations within easy reach by train. The top 10 short-haul journeys are to Paris, Amsterdam, Edinburgh, Manchester, Brussels, Glasgow, Newcastle, Leeds/Bradford, Rotterdam and Durham/Tees Valley.I won't repeat my earlier piece about the desperate need for the expansion of Heathrow Airport, but suffice to say this argument is ill conceived. Analysts predict that both short-haul and long-haul flight numbers will grow over the coming years and Boeing's new 787 Dreamliner will allow for long-haul point-to-point flights that will require more slots. Heathrow's runways are almost at capacity already and won't be able to handle this expected increase. Furthermore, the terminals are full to bursting. Switching slots from small, short-haul planes to larger, long-haul planes will only make this worse. Heathrow airport is essential to the economic life of London and the UK as a whole. The amount of extra carbon that expansion would generate would be a tiny drop in the ocean but it would be secure an essential part of British infrastructure, and through that, economic growth and the science and technology needed to combat the greater problem.
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