Conservative Party Policy on Aviation Expansion in SE England

I have this afternoon just watched the very interesting first of a special series of Daily Politics Show Election Specials on BBC2. This one was on the Environment. Greg Clark, Conservative Member of Parliament for "Royal" Tunbridge Wells, KENT and Shadow Secretary of State for Energy & Climate Change was speaking on behalf of your party.

Forgive me if I misunderstood him, but I found it somewhat disconcerting, if not worrying, to say the least, when he categorically stated live on air that Conservative Party Policy on aviation expansion in SE England was not to build any more runways. The representatives of each party (Green, Liberal Democrat, Conservative & Labour) were then later asked whether they had flown socially within the last 2 years (i.e. on holiday). Mr Clark was uncertain to this, but eventually hesitated a "yes" answer to be on the safe side, because he couldn't remember.

Can you please tell me how on earth the Shadow Secretary of State for Energy & Climate Change is not aware of or has no interest in the current Tory backed plans to expand London Ashford Airport LAA (Lydd) in KENT? This is being supported by both the current MP for Folkestone & Hythe, the Rt Hon Michael Howard QC MP, and his potential replacement, Damian Collins Conservative PPC for Folkestone & Hythe. It also has approval from the Tory controlled Shepway District Council, on the misnomer that it will bring jobs and investment to the area, and also help tourism.

The Romney Marsh region that LAA will blight is one of the most tranquil in SE England, and already has a relatively successful tourist trade of summer caravan trips, cycle and marsh based holidays etc. How an expanded airport will help this beats me. People do not go on holiday near Gatwick or Heathrow (not that LAA is ever trying to be this big). Britain already has a huge tourism deficit-meaning Britain's abroad spend millions more on their holidays elsewhere than incoming tourists to the UK spend here.

Maybe I misheard Mr Clark, but I'm sure he said that we (i.e. the Conservative Party) do not support aviation expansion within South East England. He also stated your party is against a 3rd runway at Heathrow-this is good news. How does Boris Johnson's idea of a runway in the Thames Estuary off the North Kent coast fit with Tory aviation policy both at national and Kent County level?

Now if Mr Clark is claiming that your party doesn't support runway expansion in SE England, how is it he doesn't know about the little airport at Lydd which is desperate to expand, which is even in the same county of KENT that he is an MP? Mr Clark also stated that if high speed rail is available, this should be used as a viable alternative. LAA is approximately 12 miles from Ashford International Station, which now benefits from the most advanced and fastest rail link in the country with journey times to London of about 40 minutes, and about 2 hours to Brussels and Paris, where onward fast European connections to Milan, Barcelona etc. are feasible. Your party supports a High Speed 2 in principle, but seems on the other hand to be supporting aviation growth, down here anyway.

I sat through a special full council 7 hour meeting of Shepway District Council on 3rd March 2010 where the plans to expand LAA were passed by the Tory controlled majority. This is despite the numerous objections to the expansion from the RSPB, Kent Wildlife Trust, Kent Downs AONB, Kent Green Party, Kent CPRE, Shepway Liberal Democrats, Shepway Friends of the Earth, Lydd Airport Action Group, Keep the Marsh Special Alliance and various members of the public.

However, the most important, statutory consultee to the plans- Natural England (formerly English Nature) also strongly objected to the expansion because of the damage to the legally protected habitats surrounding LAA. Shepway District Council's own Officers' report also recommended rejection of the plans. All of this was ignored by the Conservative majority.

These "bits of shingle" as some Tory councillors see them, are internationally designated and legally protected areas under the EU habitats directive. They may not be lush rainforest, but they support many rare and endemic species, such as the medicinal leech and various species of moss and lichen. LAA is also adjacent to the oldest RSPB reserve in the country- Dungeness. This is home to thousands of migratory birds and many rare but slowly thriving species.

LAA is also adjacent to Dungeness Nuclear Power Station A (decommissioning) & B (active). As far as I understand it, these nuclear power stations have a special relationship with LAA, and the no fly zone over them is smaller than it would be over every other nuclear installation in the UK, simply because of the proximity to LAA. If the CAA no fly zone guidelines were the same here as they were for every other nuclear instalment, LAA would not be able to operate as it is so close to the nuclear reactors.

However, I digress. Despite sitting through 7 hours of this council meeting, only a few Tory councillors had the backbone to stand up to their whip and not agree to the expansion plans. The Rt Hon Michael Howard QC MP was sitting throughout the meeting and also spoke. He stated legally that the plans are not in convention of EU habitat law or the precautionary principle-the crux of the issue, although others within the room stated the council was in "unchartered territory/waters" as to the legalities of this process.

The case is now with GoSE who have until 11th June to recommend to the new secretary of state in the relevant department whether to recommend a "call in" and subsequent public inquiry. Now, if your party is successful in winning this forthcoming election, I presume the secretary of state in question, could well be a Mr Greg Clark, MP for Tunbridge Wells in KENT?

If this negative scenario unfolds, and Mr Clark is given recommendation by GoSE whether to call in or approve the plans, I am sceptical as to the decision Mr Clark may make on LAA, especially given his comments today on live television. One would hope he would agree with GoSE (assuming they recommend call in), seeing as your party doesn't support aviation expansion within South East England.

You may also like to know that I believe the Tory run Kent County Council invested hundreds of thousands of pounds of tax payers' money in trying to initiate flights to Virginia, USA a few years ago from Manston (Kent International Airport). From memory of the press reports at the time, this was a complete flop and Manston couldn't even fill a plane's worth of passengers, so the project was cancelled.

I shall conclude my points with reference to when I was browsing your online archives and found a small quotation from Peter Ainsworth MP, then Shadow Environment Secretary, speaking at your Party Conference on October 2nd, 2006. In this short piece, entitled "If the environment is sick, the economy will follow" he stated:

"Our efforts to tackle climate change must by systematic; we need to use every tool at our disposal in ways that reinforce each other. We must get rid of the contradictions… and it's no good Ministers bleating about climate change and then supporting a trebling of airport capacity when aviation is the fastest growing source of climate change gasses. That's nonsense… There's a big role for Local Councils, too; taking a lead in the communities they serve. Remember Vote Blue - Go Green?"

This was said almost 4 years ago. Ironic that the environment was sick, and is still very sick, and the economy then skydived into the biggest recession since World War II, partly because of the lax attitude towards banking regulation that Mrs Thatcher in all her wisdom began so many years ago, and this Labour government continued with.

So, to sum up:

1. Can you please clarify exactly where your party stands on aviation expansion in the south east of England?

2. Does the Conservative Party nationally agree with the expansion of LAA given the proximity of the site to nuclear installations and the damage it will have on legally protected habitats?

3. How does the Conservative Party expect to meet its carbon reduction targets if at this local level it is helping to increase them?

4. How will an expanded LAA benefit local tourism in Shepway when most people landing will just travel onwards to London or elsewhere, (hence it's name - London Ashford Airport)?

5. Economically Manston (Kent International Airport) which has KCC backing, is barely breaking even. The EU Jet carrier there went bust 4-5 years ago. It is now concentrating on freight, having one of the longest runways in the UK. Manston has better road and rail links than LAA will ever have, and yet it is still finding it hard to be economically viable to the tourist trade. Manston is about 30 miles from LAA. How can your party locally claim LAA will bring jobs and boost the economy, when there is every chance it will fail given the current economic climate?

6. The phrase "Vote Blue-Go Green". In Folkestone & Hythe it seems to be "Vote Blue-Stay Blue". Please can you have a word with your local representative Tory Party & Damian Collins (Folkestone & Hythe Conservatives, 4 West Cliff Gardens, Folkestone, CT20 1SP) as to how their stance on LAA fits with this national "Vote Blue - Go Green" mantra.

7. The only democratic referenda that were held (within the Shepway regions that will be affected by an expanded LAA in 2007) were flatly ignored by the Tory councillors who sit on Shepway on 3rd March 2010. Why? I thought councillors and politicians were meant to represent the people they serve, not their own interests. Democracy is about listening to the people, not ignoring them.

I eagerly look forward to a reply from you regarding the many points I have raised. I also trust you will take these matters up with the local Folkestone & Hythe Conservative Party - assuming you want them to be singing from the same hymn sheet that you are on green issues that is?