Doncaster Sheffield Airport "should not reopen" due to climate emergency

Chris Broome wrote to the Free Press on behalf of South Yorkshire Climate Alliance saying that the airport should not be opened until a solution has been found to the number of flights people and businesses take.

He said: “We are in a climate emergency - look at the Los Angeles fires and the flooding in Valencia and more locally in Fishlake, to see how bad this is for people’s lives.

"So, although we need to improve our local economy to have well-paid work and good facilities, reopening Doncaster Sheffield Airport is not the right way to do this.

“Flying causes around one seventh of our climate emissions - both carbon dioxide and extra global warming effects to do with high altitude flying. The Government has been advised by its own Climate Change Committee that there should be no expansion in airport capacity until it has found ways to reduce the number of flights people and businesses are taking.”

He continued: “There are positive ways to reduce flights - many businesses can make more use of online communications, and rail and coach services can be made faster and more attractive (for example, Doncaster could benefit from an overnight train to France).

"Frequent flyers could be charged more, with holidaymakers not being penalised.”

He concluded: “We are in a climate emergency - let’s act like it, and invest in real solutions, not more problems.”