Boris seeks new Cliffe Airport?

The new Tory London Mayor Boris Johnson, has called for a new airport for North Kent after concluding that Heathrow was 'a planning error.' Despite local conservative promises, it is clear that the Conservative party has let down the people of Cliffe and Medway and is pushing ahead with the proposal.

A Natural habitat

The Royal Society for the Protection of Birds reacted with horror to the proposals.The RSPB said the estuary, including the RSPB’s Cliffe Pools reserve in Kent, is one of Europe’s most important sites for wild birds and is protected by European and UK law.

The RSPB said more than 200,000 birds use the Thames Estuary in winter including species whose numbers have dropped steeply elsewhere.It said their presence would pose a serious risk of bird strike, a threat that would be impossible to avert

Tory plans for Cliffe Airport

Cllr Teresa Murray, the Labour candidate for Rochester & Strood, has dismissed the Tory proposal stating that

"It is not often that people take Boris seriously, but now that he is the most powerful tory in the country, his plans to resurrect an airport at Cliffe are no joke to residents across Rochester & Strood and particular in Cliffe and the Peninsula, who have campaigned with Bob Marshall-Andrews and other local Labour MPs against the plan. We already have an airport in Kent at Manston, which has a million passenger movements per year. Clearly an existing airport site is a better idea then a tory plot to open an airport at Cliffe."

Labour will fight against tory proposals for an airport in North Kent. We believe that there is significant scope for expansion at Manston in Kent.

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