MPs hits out at new parliamentary airport group

15th July 2010
MPs hits out at new parliamentary airport group

LOCAL MP, Gordon Henderson, has criticised the All Party Parliamentary Group of Members of Parliament who are pushing for consideration of a new airport in the Thames Estuary.

Mr Henderson used an Early Day Motion (EDM 493) to highlight his opposition to the group, saying that its re-inauguration “is ill conceived”.

Mr Henderson was supported by the MP for Rochester and Strood, Mark Reckless, who said:

“The Conservative Party and the Coalition Government are opposed to the building of any new runways in the South East, let alone a whole new airport in the Thames Estuary. This proposal is pie in the sky and I would question why any colleagues, however few, would promote it.”

EDM 493 reads:
That this House notes the re-inauguration of the Thames Estuary Airport All Party Parliamentary Group (APPG) to promote consideration of a new airport in the Thames Estuary; believes that this APPG is ill conceived as such an airport would be economically unviable, operationally unsafe and environmentally disastrous; and is concerned that continued speculation about the feasibility of an airport in the Thames Estuary is bringing unnecessary uncertainty and distress to those residents of North Kent and South Essex who would be most affected by its construction.

Mr Henderson said:

“There are so many reasons why this airport should never go ahead that I am at a loss to understand why this group of MPs persists in the nonsense of believing that Boris Island is worth considering. The uncertainty that they are breeding is doing nobody any good and they should scrap their All Party Group and scrap it now”