Mayor must end support of airport expansion

Letter to Bristol Post from Green Councillor Paula O’Rourke:

“How can Mayor Marvin Rees unequivocally support the expansion of Bristol Airport (BBC Sunday Politics 3rd February), when he has voted for a Green plan to make Bristol carbon neutral by 2030 and has tasked council officers to explore how to achieve this aim. Their report won’t be due until May, so on what evidence is he making this decision?

The expansion of the airport will increase carbon emissions by 59% (the airport could only be ‘carbon neutral’ if plane and car journeys were excluded) yet we urgently need to reduce CO2 emissions as fast as possible if we’re going to have a chance of meeting the target voted on by all councillors and help prevent runaway global warming and catastrophic levels of climate change.

The Mayor needs to realise that Bristol has two budgets to manage – a financial one and a carbon budget. Allowing the increase in flights will be a huge carbon overspend.  Supporting this expansion totally undermines his commitment to getting to carbon neutral by 2030.

The Mayor has a responsibility to the city and its residents to consider the long term good of the city and should be able to see beyond short term ‘growth’ and slogans for his next election.

Perhaps Marvin Rees doesn’t really care about 2030 but about 2020?”

Green Councillor for Clifton

Paula O’Rourke