3rd runway

We've won a great victory against the Heathrow third runway, but there are still plans to expand aviation elsewhere around the country. The airline industry needs to take on its fair share of emissions cuts. We should be thinking about reducing, not expanding aviation. We can start with journeys which can clearly be made through other means - by replacing domestic flights with an improved national train and coach network.

On Saturday 4 September, our friends at the Campaign against Climate Change are organising a 'Train not Plane' day of action in London and Manchester. It starts with a demonstration outside London's City Airport in the morning, supporting the local campaign to stop increased numbers of flights at the airport. This will be followed by a

Heathrow watchdog John Stewart is the chair of HACAN Clearskies, one of Europe's largest aviation groups. Here he gives his reaction to the government's decision to go ahead with the 3rd runway at Heathrow, and why he is still confident that it can be stopped.

In the few days since the runway was given the green light, there has been a massive reaction from all the groups who are opposing it. And the message to the government is very clear. People are very angry indeed. In my opinion there's no question that a lot of individuals will take direct action to try and stop this - local residents have been talking about linking up with Plane Stupid to take action. And I believe we can stop it, because all the other parties in the land are saying that they would scrap plans to build a third runway at Heathrow; there is so much opposition now that even if Labour wins the next election the third runway is likely to be dead in the water.

Boy are BAA keen on a third runway for Heathrow. Their enthusiasm knows no bounds, and there appear to be no lengths they won't go to to get their own way - purely for the good of the country, of course (even though they are Spanish owned) - no shabby profit motives involved.

So far in order to see their dream come true they have:

• colluded with the government (through a joint body - the Heathrow Delivery Group) to steer their plans through the consultation process
• supplied their own data for calculations of noise and pollution that inform the proposal, and prevented opposition groups gaining access it it to carry out their own analyses
• written parts of the consultation themselves
• drawn up a 'risk' list with the Department of Transport to counter opponents of the proposal (including the 2M campaign, the group comprising local councils representing 2 million people who'll be affected by the new runway)
• taken out an injunction against Airportwatch, the umbrella organisation who's members include such radical groups as the National Trust, the RSPB, the Woodland Trust and the Campaign for the Protection of Rural England, as well as ourselves.

Remember the Paper plane flashmob outside the Department of Transport? Looks like it might have finally woken Ruth Kelly up to the deluge of NOs that have been levelled at her ridiculous expansion proposals and has prompted her to delay a decision on the plans. Obviously she hasn't read the messages thoroughly or else she'd have scrapped plans for expanding Heathrow altogether.

This week's been busy for me, what with two demonstrations on two different campaigns. After the protest outside the Japanese Embassy, it was the Department of Transport's turn to welcome us. The government wasn't listening when we said NO to Heathrow's third runway last month. So this morning, we flashmobbed the Department of Transport and launched paper planes saying ‘NO AIRPORT EXPANSION' at transport secretary Ruth Kelly's office.

If you thought that the Terminal 5 flashmob and the Big NO! was all that would be done to oppose the third runway then you were wrong. On 3 July, get ready to flashmob once more and launch paper planes at the Department for Transport, and tell transport secretary Ruth Kelly why plans for the third runway must be scrapped.

Download a paper plane here and don't forget to write a message to Transport Secretary Ruth Kelly on it. The plan is to turn up outside Department for Transport (corner of Marsham St and Horseferry Road) at 11am sharp. If you've still got your red t-shirts from T5; even better but a paper plane is an absolute must. At 11.03 (precisely) those wearing ‘Stop Airport Expansion' t-shirts will reveal them, and then we will all launch our paper planes in the direction of the Department.