The decision to build a second runway at Birmingham International Airport will devastate domestic tourism and the environment, the National Trust warns.
The organisation said the Government had failed to come up with a viable response to the rising demand for air travel. Historic properties Baddesley Clinton Hall in Knowle, Solihull, and Packwood House, near Lapworth, Warwickshire, will be affected by noise as a result of the runway, the Trust said.
Tony Burton, director of policy and strategy at the National Trust, said: "The White Paper is based on an assumption that the demand for air travel will accelerate. Yet continuing to pump prime the market for artificially cheap leisure flights, which comprise 74 per cent of all flights, makes no sense when the result is widespread damage to the country's environment and to its domestic tourism industry." According to figures quoted by the Trust, Britain ran up a £15.3 billion deficit in tourism in 2002.
The UK is losing nearly £175,000 every hour, and airport expansion will make the situation infinitely worse as well as inflicting unnecessary environmental damage, Mr Burton said.
Mark Armstrong, area manager for the National Trust, said: "The National Trust is very disappointed with the Government's decision to go ahead with the proposed expansion of Birmingham International Airport. The case for the expansion of this airport has simply not been made by the Government."
The charity welcomed the recognition in the White Paper of the need to reflect some of the environmental costs of air travel through emissions trading but cautioned that any benefits would be outstripped by the rapid rise in air travel.
Article
