Caroline recently gave her full support to campaigners challenging Boris Johnson's proposals for an international airport in the Thames estuary.
On the day of the London Assembly's Annual General Meeting protesters from No Estuary Airport, Airport Watch and Campaign against Climate Change decided to protest outside City Hall to make the views known to the Mayor of London. The campaign against a Thames Estuary Airport is also strongly supported by the RSPB.
Some of the key arguments against the Thames Estuary Airport include:
- - the damage it would create for 300,000 migrant birds that feed and roost there over the winter months.
- - the threat of a bird strike hazard, which would be 12 times higher than at any other major airport.
- - the threat from the sunken SS Montgomery, with 1,400 tons of munitions on board, which would need to be removed. All previous attempts to clear it have failed due to its unstable cargo.
Caroline commented:
"I am delighted to support this campaign against the Thames Estuary Airport. The Mayor cannot build, let alone fund this airport. It is a pie in the sky idea which even the aviation industry have rejected.
"At long last Boris Johnson should drop this idea and instead concentrate on transport issues that he is actually responsible for."
A Department of Transport survey of the SS Richard Montgomery, the American ship wrecked with 1,400 tons of explosives near to the proposed Thames Estuary Airport can be seen here.