So the Suburban Chimp has been out and about lately visiting family over in New Zealand. Feeling guilty about the carbon footprint issue with the flights, but we don’t fly often (making excuses) and it’s the first flight in over two years. Anyway, managed to pick up a deal on a cheap hotel and we got to thinking about how totally un-environmentally friendly going on holiday actually is. What Suburban Chimp is trying to say is that it is good to feel a bit guilty when you go on holiday, but you should still go on holiday and try to limit the environmental damage you do in your every day life. Take for instance our local supermarket Jempsons has stopped giving out free plastic bags. You now have the option of buying a re-usable bag, or take one of the old boxes to carry your food home. A great move by Jempsons.

For whatever reason that is unbeknown to us here at Suburban Chimp (probably because we can’t be bothered to read articles in their entirety and prefer to make presumptions and rant randomly…) BAA may face loosing control over some of the airports in the UK, with Gatwick being a likely candidate. Apparently this will help improve services etc for passengers and airlines and after the T5 launch comedy (not funny for the passengers though), it is hard to imaging that it would take very much indeed to improve the service offered.

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Not that we at Suburban Chimp are particular advocates of flying as it’s extraordinarily hurtful to the environment, but we certainly have our eyes open and understand that people are going to fly. What we would like to see is some sensible limits to this flying malarkey imposed, for instance, do we need a T6 at Heathrow when five seems to be an unlucky number, and do we really want a third runway? The answer we think is no. We do not have the inclination to explain why the answer is no, it just is.

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Anyone who has flown from Scotland to Heathrow on a regular basis has probably ended up circling the sky around Heathrow for quite a while, and this is the reason that is sometimes given for why a third runway is needed. We have a better idea, instead of having another runway at Heathrow, why not have a reduction in flight traffic so planes do not have to fly around in circles burning fuel? Let the airlines put up their prices so that they can remain profitable and then we will all no doubt take less trips by plane. Hands up how many of us have booked a £30 flight for a weekend away some place because it is so cheap? Most of us are guilty of this (hands up), instead why not save up for that trip of a lifetime, or take a weekend away to sunny Bognor? You never know, it might not rain.

Hmm, vague post alert but I forgot to keep the article I read, but I found it quite amusing so the gist of it is: Some boss from British Airways says that he fully supports the further runway expansion at Heathrow Airport, blah, blah, blah. In another report Santa Claus states that he is completely in favor of Christmas.

Regardless of whether we like it or not, (and I do not) the expansion at Heathrow Airport is going to happen, because as soon as something like this is raised by the government as an ‘option’ you can pretty much bet that that they have already decided that it is going to happen. I wonder if the Queen will have something to say when the Government want to build Terminal 15 and Runway 10 and they select The Long Walk leading up to Windsor Castle as the location, as it’s nice and straight and perfect for sticking jumbo jets down it.

So BAA not content with a fifth terminal at Heathrow Airport, there is now talk of a third runway and a ‘six’ terminal before they have even finished the fifth. Up to 300,000 more flights a year are mentioned, (I’ve been reading the BBC).

The justification for this is that Heathrow is running at full capacity and all these additions are required to aid economic growth, blah, blah, blah. I used to live near Heathrow and I can tell you, pollution aside the noise is already dreadful and I really feel for millions of people who live in the surrounding area who have to put up with it. When a plane is flying over your house every few minutes it’s not much fun.

I now live closer to Gatwick and there is resistance to expansion at that particular airport too and since I’m a NIMBY, I agree that it shouldn’t be expanded.

Back to Heathrow. My maths is shocking, but if there are an additional 300,000 flights a year, and these are passenger flights and not freight (I don’t know the breakdown), how many passengers does this equate to? If we are really conservative with the figures and say that on average there are a 100 people on each flight, doesn’t that mean there is an additional 30 Million passengers per year, on top of what’s already coming into Heathrow? Can the Piccadilly Line really handle that, or the Heathrow Express? I’ll tell you one thing which won’t be able to handle it as it is already at breaking point- the road system. The A4, A30 and M25 are struggling already, congestion around Heathrow is already a complete joke and is only going to get worse.

Suburban Chimp say’s Stop Heathrow Expansion- Heathrow is big enough already, is causing misery to millions already, has had it’s day already, so find another solution.

And lets not start on the polution Pollution ramifications , just so we can ‘aid’ the economy, apparently.