00:00Hi, I'm Victoria Chester, I'm a local councillor here in Hawley for Hawley's and Salford's
00:13ward. I'm a town and a borough councillor. So this is Riverside Garden Park, it's a beautiful
00:19little patch of green here, one of the few green spaces in Hawley. It's very popular
00:23in residents, it's really good for nature, nature walks, it was a walk haven during the
00:28pandemic. As you can hear it's already very close to high levels of traffic and you can
00:34hear the airport noise very clearly. The expansion will cut off a large tranche of the park and
00:41remove the tree line protecting the park from the noise of the road. So it's going to massively
00:47impact on this area which is very precious to Hawley residents. And obviously tomorrow
00:51we're expecting the decision on Gatwick's Northern Runway plans. Last night we heard
00:56Heidi Alexander's comments which sort of signalled that it looks like they're going
01:01to be giving the green light to the plans. What are your thoughts on what she said? I
01:05just find it highly disrespectful that politicians of her supposed calibre use terms like eco-warrior
01:12to describe people who are basically trying to take into consideration the results of
01:19the work by such organisations as the Climate Change Committee. People who are trying to
01:25take into consideration the concerns of local people as well as the wider concerns of climate
01:29change. I think using terminology like that is not only disingenuous, it's actually irresponsible.
01:35It's taking up that divisive approach that people have, you know, green versus economy
01:41which is total nonsense as she well knows. Green economies are the way forward. Dealing
01:46with, focusing on economies that are primarily around fossil fuels is a dead end. There's
01:54plenty, plenty of jobs and growth to be found through a raft of green and sustainable based
02:00economies and industries. To talk about eco-warriors at a time when we should be focusing desperately
02:06on how we can make things better here climate-wise is just, well, it's disgraceful I think.
02:12And obviously if it does get given the go-ahead tomorrow to the plans, what are the next steps
02:16for you and for campaign groups like Gatwick, oh Gat, sorry, and what does it mean for your
02:23residents in Hawley and your constituents? Well the next steps will be to obviously read
02:27what the planning secretary says and depending on what conditions they put in place we will
02:33then consider our next steps, one of which may be to challenge it further through the
02:38courts. This is something that we have been working on and fighting against for a long
02:44time and we're not going to give up easily. My main concern as a resident of Hawley is
02:49that the people here have been hoodwinked into thinking this is a good thing. They've
02:53been promised jobs and economic growth when most of that is based on just made up statistics.
02:59They're going to see an awful lot of negative impacts here locally in the short and longer
03:05term and the benefits that are promised really aren't going to materialise so I feel it's
03:10my role, it's part of my role here as a local councillor to make people aware of that, the
03:14truth of the fact and stand up for their rights.
03:20Hi, my name's Jonathan Essex and I'm Vice-Chair of the Gatwick Area Consolation Campaign.
03:26So today, which is the day before the decision on whether Gatwick expansion takes place,
03:32today the UK's independent Climate Change Committee, an independent body connected to
03:38the government, produced its study to say what the government should do to reduce emissions
03:45down for the period from 2038 to 2042, which is exactly the time when this new runway is
03:52being developed for, if you like, and what they said is that we should really push back
03:58aviation expansion and there's really no need for any new aviation capacity in the next
04:04decade. We should instead wait for these so-called sustainable aviation fuels to prove their
04:10worth and then if they do come forward, if they are successful, then that will be the
04:16time to grow aviation later.
04:18Given Heidi Alexander's comments we heard last night, it looks like that the plans will
04:24be given the go-ahead. What's the next steps for your campaign if it is given the green
04:29light tomorrow?
04:30Well, if that political decision is dangerous and irresponsible in the way that Heidi Alexander
04:37was suggesting it might be yesterday, then I really think we should take a hard look
04:43at the decision and Heidi Alexander should expect a legal challenge or two coming her
04:49way.
04:50And how can people get involved with your campaign if they feel so strongly about the
04:55decision tomorrow?
04:56So we will be launching a crowdfunding campaign on the Crowd Justice website. Actually it's
05:05being launched today so it's now going live. People would like to donate and we're asking
05:09people to support us to take this to the first step to see if it can be heard at the courts.
05:15We want to raise the amount of money for each step of the campaign as we go forward.
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