Green Councillors challenged the reopening of Sheffield-Doncaster Airport this week, a week in which Earth experienced hottest temperatures ever recorded. Gleadless Valley Councillor Alexi Dimond writes on why this expensive plan is misguided.
Green Party councillors submitted a motion to the last Sheffield City Council meeting calling for the £138 million of Regional funding for reopening Doncaster Sheffield Airport to be used instead to help insulate people’s homes. Sadly, this was rejected by Liberal Democrat and Labour Councillors.
In the Green Party motion, we highlighted the proximity of other regional airports such as Manchester, East Midlands and Leeds/Bradford. We provided evidence from the Royal Society that demonstrates proposals for so-called ‘Sustainable Aviation Fuels’ cannot be produced in sufficient quantities to support flying to current levels.
Reopening Doncaster Sheffield Airport would lead to an expansion of flights with all the associated carbon emissions, making reaching our Net Zero targets more difficult and expensive to achieve. South Yorkshire Mayoral Combined Authority has committed to delivering a Zero Carbon economy by 2040. Supporting airport expansion makes that target much more difficult to achieve. There is also the concern that the public will again be subsidising a private venture which may yet again end in failure.
Labour councillors backed the £138 million re-opening of Sheffield-Doncaster airport
Instead of subsidising an airport, and therefore the flights of people who can afford to fly, we wanted to invest in projects that helped people reduce their energy bills. This would put more money into the local economy and reduce carbon emissions. Supporting a scheme to insulate homes is demonstrably a better use of public money.
In voting against our motion, the Lib Dems and Labour were ignoring the climate impacts of air travel and actually promoting more carbon emissions. This seems to be part of a wider trend as we now hear that the Labour Government is considering supporting a third runway at Heathrow, with all the local, national and global climate impacts that come with it.
Tackling climate change requires political commitment and making the right choices. Very few credible politicians deny the science of climate change anymore. The threat to our futures now comes from politicians who ignore the facts and therefore make the wrong choices.
