Write to your MP

Copy and paste the text below into an email to your MP and don’t forget to personalise the bits in bold.

Find out who your MP is: https://www.theyworkforyou.com/

Dear [Name of your MP],

I am writing as your constituent to ask you to oppose the proposed expansion of Heathrow, Gatwick and Luton airports, and to support the call for a moratorium on all airport expansion in the UK. The Climate Change Committee says that all airport expansion projects should be halted until a UK-wide passenger capacity management framework is in place.

The Climate Change Committee also advises there should be no expansion of overall airport capacity in the UK – unless flying is actually becoming less carbon intensive at a faster rate than we need to cut emissions, and so the growth can be accommodated. Otherwise we either fail on climate change, or some other sector has to cut emissions even faster to compensate, which seems unlikely.

So far, more fuel-efficient aircraft have reduced climate pollution to some extent, but this has been outstripped by the increased emissions from growth in aviation. Rachel Reeves claims that so-called sustainable aviation fuel is a ‘game-changer’ in cutting aviation emissions. But experts say this claim is untrue, for two reasons.

The first is whether the production of any of these fuels could be scaled up to replace any significant fraction of commercial jet fuel demand. This would require, for example, a vast area of land for growing biofuel crops, or unfeasible amounts of ‘waste’ oil. The second is how sustainable these alternative fuels actually are. For example, there are plans to use household waste, including plastics, and even old car tyres to generate aviation fuel. This is essentially waste incineration, producing just as much carbon dioxide as burning fossil fuels, and no less harmful, when we should be reducing, re-using and recycling waste.

There are other reasons to oppose aviation expansion. It is not, in fact, a good way of creating economic growth. The New Economics Foundation has shown that previous airport expansions have not delivered the expected economic growth. As more tourist spending goes out of the UK than comes in through airports, on balance, airports create a deficit in our economy. 

More planes flying overhead also means more noise and air pollution in areas surrounding airports. Local residents under airport flight paths already experience significant mental and physical health impacts, and expansion would make this worse.

Please could you sign up to support the No Airport Expansion campaign for a three-year moratorium on airport expansion: 
– To prevent climate change emissions from aviation from continuing to grow unchecked
– To allow time to assess whether the expansion of the aviation industry can be compatible with the UK’s legal commitment to reach net zero by 2050 
– To allow time to assess the health and quality-of-life impacts of noise and air pollution for communities around airports and those under flight paths, and to develop measures to tackle it
To allow a clearer picture to emerge of the timescale and effectiveness of the government’s proposed solutions outlined in the Jet Zero strategy

You can find the declaration and sign it here: https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSedaQsUar4b8cuVQnu288yEGJUCiYfqpbymS7-W-76mYJzSmg/viewform

More details of the group’s policy and demands can be found at www.noairportexpansion.org

Best wishes,

[your name]

[your postcode]