Airport Plans "Madness"

The Green Party Councillor, Mark Hood, has attacked what he called Labour's "bonfire of regulations" after news of plans for a new Heathrow runway.

Mark Hood was speaking to West Kent Radio in a live interview on the Friday drivetime programme with Martin Webber.

Mark Hood, who is a Borough and County Councillor, said "it is madness to be going down this route".

The Labour government has said it believes big infrastructure investments will boost economic growth and tax revenue and therefore enable more spending on public services.

Labour expects to push through planning approval for a third runway at Heathrow in this parliament and is expected to allow Gatwick to increase flights by 60% by allowing it to upgrade a stand-by runway.

The government has also this week signalled its approval for a £10 billion road crossing of the Thames, called the Lower Thames Crossing.

Mark Hood said the government should be taxing frequent flyers more to curb air travel demand, while the new Thames crossing would only relieve congestion for a few years before roads were again filled to capacity. 

Mark Hood also rejected Labour's suggestions that aviation's damage to the climate can be offset by using more "sustainable aviation fuels" derived from crops.  He said we had insufficient food security to use crops for aviation fuel.

Mark Hood began the West Kent Radio interview by giving his thoughts on the past week's failure by South East Water to supply fresh water in parts of Sevenoaks, Tonbridge and Bidborough.

He said South East Water should have alerted people sooner, so an effort could have been made to eek out supplies to stop the system draining down and creating air locks.

He also said the supply of bottled water should have been managed better.

You can listen to his interview here:

More from WEST KENT NEWS

  • Reform Expels 3 More

    Reform UK has expelled another three county councillors from the party this afternoon alleging “a pattern of dishonest and deceptive behaviour”.

  • Reform Expels Two Councillors

    Reform UK says its expelled two Kent County Councillors for "undermining the interests of the party".

  • Man Charged

    Kent police say a man has been charged with raping a teenage girl in Tunbridge Wells last weekend.

  • Houses on Green Belt

    Vast house building plans are being laid out to increase the population of the Borough of Tonbridge and Malling by one third in the next 17 years.

  • KCC Leader Plea for Support

    The Reform UK leader of Kent County Council, Linden Kemkaren, has called on her own councillors to sign a message of support.

  • Reform UK Suspends 4 Councillors

    A day of drama at County Hall has seen Kent County Council's Reform UK leader declare “business as usual” despite the suspension of four colleagues.

  • Reform UK Video Leak

    The Reform UK leader of Kent County Council has described her own councillors who leaked a recording of an internal online meeting as "cowards".

  • St Mark's Field: Developer's Plans

    The developer Esquire has submitted a planning application to reclassify St Mark's recreation ground as a "Biodiversity Enhancement area."

On Air Now The Wind Down 10:00pm - 1:00am
Now Playing
You're The Best Thing The Style Council
Recently Played
  • Hazard Richard Marx 0:14
  • When We Were Young Adele 0:09
  • Cry Me Out Pixie Lott 0:05

COMING UP

  • Through The Night

    1:00am - 7:00am

    Non Stop Music

  • Alan Rustad

    7:00am - 10:00am

    West Kent Breakfast sponsored by Berry & Lamberts