MR DAVID Jenkins calls on councillors to come clean over Uttlesford District Council s refusal of further growth in planes and passengers through Stansted s runway. The officer report recommended refusal on nine grounds, one of which was climate change.

MR DAVID Jenkins calls on councillors to 'come clean' over Uttlesford District Council's refusal of further growth in planes and passengers through Stansted's runway. The officer report recommended refusal on nine grounds, one of which was climate change.

The report did indeed say that it is not possible to show the direct impact on climate change of the extra millions of tonnes of carbon that would be emitted into the atmosphere from 40 per cent more planes using the airport had expansion been approved.

The Great London Smog of 1952 killed thousands of people. This led to the first Clean Air Act in 1956.

No chimney was exempted because it was difficult to identify the direct effect of each household chimney's smoke in killing which elderly person. But smoke from most chimneys was banned because its collective effect was to kill people.

The environment secretary keeps saying 'climate change has changed everything' but to date the government has failed totally to address how aviation must change to control the increasing impact on our lives of global warming.

Instead, the government's forecast growth in aviation would mean its impact on climate change would become larger than most other sources.

It took the government four years to get to grips with sulphur dioxide poisoning from smog some 50 years ago.

Until today's government gets to grips with the carbon emissions from aeroplanes, Uttlesford is placing a brake on more greenhouse gases, which are caused by Stansted Airport.

That's how we intend to 'come clean'.

Cllr Alan Dean

Member for Stansted Mountfitchet

Chair of Stansted Airport Advisory Panel

Uttlesford District Council