I have campaigned against Heathrow Expansion for many years - long before
getting involved in Richmond politics. I have pursued the issue vigorously
through the media, and I have supported the key organisations fighting
expansion.
Last year I bought a key piece of land in the village of Sipson with
Greenpeace, Emma Thompson and Alistair McGowan. I have supported key
organizations, including HACAN, whose Director, John Stewart, said "Zac
Goldsmith's strong position on Heathrow is helping to change the political
debate across the country."
Writing in the Times, the Director of the London School of Economics has also
said; “The Conservative party’s opposition to a third runway at Heathrow is
underpinned by analysis in the Gummer-Goldsmith report.” He was referring
to the environmental policy review I co-authored for the Conservative
Party.
Before the election, I vowed to stand down as an MP and trigger a by-election
if the Conservative Party reneged on its promise to scrap the third runway.
Soon after the election, I’m thrilled that the Party delivered on that promise.
My view is that with a proper high-speed rail network, new technologies, and
proper incentives, we won’t need to build more airports. In November, I met
with the CBI, which has historically campaigned hard for a third runway. It has
always been seen as the main voice of big business, but I discovered that its
members are no longer speaking with one voice on this issue. Many have cut
travel from their business models for environmental reasons, and more recently
because of the recession. It remains to be seen if that trend continues, but
for now, the CBI may well be forced to soften its position.
We’ve won the battle against the 3rd runway, and I’m proud to have been part of
that. We now need to take the campaign to the next step. We need to reduce the
number of short-haul flights using Heathrow, and we need to ban night flights
altogether. In addition, I am working with lawyers to identify mechanism to
ensure that a possible future Government will find it difficult to reverse this
Government’s position
I met Theresa Villiers, the Minister of State for Transport, to discuss the
forthcoming consultation over changes to the night flights regime at Heathrow
Airport and to press for tighter restrictions when the new regime comes in. I
arranged for all other MPs with an interest, as well as local Peers, including
Susan Kramer, to attend the meeting. The current night flight regime will
expire in 2012 and a public consultation will be held next year. LINK
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