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Lewisham Mayor Sir Steve Bullock last night put on record his support for building a new airport in the Thames estuary. He had hinted at his support for the policy backed by Boris Johnson in a News Shopper interview in April. He confirmed his position in a written answer to the Green Party group at full council last night. Green Party councillor Romayne Phoenix accused the Mayor of sending mixed messages on climate change. She said: "Mayor Bullock has finally agreed to join the 2M group of councils fighting Heathrow expansion and he talks the talk on fighting climate change, but building a whole new airport would cancel out any emissions-cutting achieved by Lewisham Council. - Given that this week the Government's own Sustainable Development Commission called for a halt to airport-building until a special inquiry establishes the facts for and against, Sir Steve's desire to build runways on a sensitive habitat is completely loopy. - - I hope all who agree will join me at the anti-expansion protest near Heathrow on 31 May." The proposal for an estuary airport is opposed by the RSPB on wildlife protection, climate change and safety grounds. Notes to editors: Cllr Phoenix is available for further comment. The text of the Green Party question and the Mayor's reply at the 21 May 2008 full council: Question by Councillor Keogh of the Mayor: "Can the Mayor confirm that he supports the idea of supporting the building of a new airport in the ecologically and archeologically sensitive Thames estuary at Cliffe, close to an oil refinery on the Isle of Grain; a policy backed by Boris Johnson and rejected by the government, by the RSPB on environmental and safety grounds, and by the leader of Kent County Council and the local MP, Teresa Murray for Rochester and Strood?" Reply: "I accept that there is likely to be a continued demand for further airport capacity but if it is to happen it should be done in a way that is sustainable and minimises the blight on people's lives that airports cause. I was therefore very interested in the article that Nick Raynsford MP wrote for the Times on 30th March, proposing that the case for siting a new London airport in the Thames Estuary be revisited. The case he makes is a strong one and I support it." The RSPB's statement on building
an airport on one of Europe's most important sites for birds can
be viewed here: Details of the Sustainable Development Commission's call for an airport-building moratorium can be found at: http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/uknews/1999057/Delay-Heathrow-airport-
expansion,-say-Government-advisers.html Cllr Romayne Phoenix GREEN PARTY LEWISHAM
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