Top advisers slam Heathrow air quality claims
by Hammersmith and Fulham Press Office
18/03/2008
The Government's claims that expansion at Heathrow can be achieved without breaching air quality limits have been undermined by a report from their own environmental advisers.
The Environment Agency's criticisms of the 'Adding Capacity at Heathrow' consultation echo those made by local authorities campaigning against a third runway.
The councils, who are all members of the 2M Group, are now calling on transport secretary Ruth Kelly to make an urgent statement on the EA's findings.
The agency, which is the leading public body for protecting the environment, warns that the material used to justify the Government's conclusions on likely NO2 levels cannot be relied on. It says that there are arguments for postponing irreversible investment decisions in the face of uncertainty.
The full report is available on the EA's website. The key conclusion states, 'We do not think that the evidence presented is sufficiently robust to conclude that the proposed Heathrow development will not infringe the NO2 Directive, bearing in mind the uncertainties that need to be addressed. This is because the assessment of air quality pays insufficient attention to these uncertainties and to the range of possible future scenarios for issues like road traffic, meteorological variability, climate change, background air quality and atmospheric chemistry.'
The report goes on to warn: 'It is likely that worsened air quality will result in increased morbidity and mortality impacts as well as a range of other impacts. These air quality impacts will be present irrespective of whether air quality remains within EU guidelines and are likely to be especially important given the very high population density of the SE region.'
H&F Deputy Leader and Cabinet Member for Environment, Cllr Nicholas Botterill, who himself read Chemistry at university says, “The Government's own scientific advisers are telling them what local councils and other campaign groups have said all along – the figures just do not add up.
“More and more evidence is emerging of the lengths that the Department for Transport and BAA went to so they could be sure of getting the answers they wanted from these environmental tests. I'm not surprised that the Environment Agency has serious doubts about the evidence used - but what really disturbs me is the thought no one bothered to seek its advice before.”
The EA report can be viewed at http://www.environment-agency.gov.uk/ourviews/1876673/1980740/?version=1&lang=_e (opens new window).
