Press Release

Press release

Wednesday 5^th November 2008

For immediate use

 6th November 2008

GREEN LEADERS THANK JOAN WALLEY MP FOR RUNWAY STAND

Some of Britain’s biggest environment groups have congratulated Stoke-on-Trent North MP Joan Walley for throwing her weight behind a high-speed rail link from London to Manchester and opposing a new runway at Heathrow.

Ms Walley has signed a parliamentary motion calling on the government to build the rail link instead of a third runway at Heathrow. High-speed rail is as much as ten times less polluting than flying.

Greenpeace executive director John Sauven said:

“Ms Walley knows that a sustainable high-speed rail link between London and Manchester would create jobs and investment in the region while reducing demand for air travel and cutting carbon emissions. We don’t need a new runway at Heathrow, we need a clean quick railway network.”

Andy Atkins, executive director of Friends of the Earth said:

“We’re delighted that Joan is calling for UK transport policy to take a new direction. Scrapping airport expansion plans and investing in a fast and efficient railway network is essential if we are serious about tackling climate change. Cutting the growth in air travel will help Britain develop a low carbon economy and reduce our dependency on fossil fuels.”

Stephen Joseph, Executive Director of Campaign for Better Transport said:

“The alarm bell has been rung by a large and growing number of MPs from all parties signalling the folly of expanding Heathrow. Plans to expand Heathrow must be turned around and scrapped to make tackling climate change a reality and rail travel a realistic travel choice.”

The government is expected to announce within six weeks whether it will allow airport operator BAA to build a third runway and sixth terminal at Heathrow. Opponents of the scheme say a low carbon high-speed rail link between London and Birmingham, Leeds and Manchester could reduce demand at Heathrow while cutting emissions of CO2.  At least 100,000 flights a year go between Heathrow and destinations easily reachable by train.

ENDS

For more contact Simon Oswald on 0207 2196985