Emily voiced her opposition to a third runway at Heathrow today, joining Greenpeace's "Stop Heathrow Expansion" Tour as it visited Upper Street, Islington.
The Greenpeace tour is visiting sites across London to spread information about plans to expand Heathrow. Their visit to Islington comes as the Government consults on plans to add a third runway to Heathrow, meaning that the number of take-offs and landings a year would nearly double from 480,000 now to 702,000 by 2030. Greenpeace estimate that the rise in carbon dioxide emissions would be equivalent to the entire annual emissions of Kenya. The plans will also see more flights over Islington, with a flight every few minutes in peak periods.
Emily said:
"I'm very concerned about the effect that an extra runway at Heathrow would have, especially as with the danger of climate change we need to be cutting our carbon emissions not raising them."
Emily has been joined in opposition to the move by fellow Islington MP Jeremy Corbyn.
Jeremy said:
"Heathrow is already very congested, a new runway will make our skies more crowded and more dangerous. We should instead be looking at less flying and more surface transport. There are huge duplications between rail and air in the UK, and the near countries of Western Europe. Noise is already an issue for the hundreds of thousands who live near Heathrow and increasingly for people in our part of North London. I say to the Government, stop and think again".
