What's in the Pipeline?
LAST CHANCE TO RESPOND TO THE BAA NOISE CONSULTATION (June archive). ENDS 5TH OCTOBER.
Tickets now available for the Ceilidh!
NoTRAG Archive - September 2009
The NoTRAG website has a new look...
...but you can still find your old favourites.
Out of the Pipeline
Remind yourself of the days you came along to protest.
If you have never attended a NoTRAG event perhaps this will inspire you to come along. They are serious fun.
Jog your memory about Events Past.
Desperate BA to charge extra for seat choice
Date : Friday 25th September 2009
As passenger numbers fall, British Airways has a new ruse to squeeze more cash from flyers - an extra charge for choice of seat.
From 7th October charges will range from £10 per person for European economy flights, to £60 for long haul trips in business class.
BA has said it will "give customers more control over their seating options" yet in the past passengers could choose an aisle, window or emergency exit seat at NO extra cost providing they gave advance notice of the request.
With many passengers choosing to fly BA because they object to the charges levied by the budget operators, it is debatable whether this latest slap in the face for farepayers will improve its bank balance in the long term.
The charge is likely to hit the aged, disabled and famillies worst. Will children be seated next to strangers? Will passengers who've paid the extra object to having lone children and disgruntled adults moaning next to them?
The charge even discrimates against tall people, who will have to pay for more leg room to help reduce the risk of deep-vein thombosis.
One elderly BA customer with a weak bladder has written to the press to object to having to pay extra for an aisle seat. The writer also pointed out that people with medical conditions are usually deliberately pre-assigned window seats so that they don't cause an obstruction during a need to evacuate passengers in an emergency.
This is a serious issue but you can't help chuckle at the thought of the chaos on the average BA flight. Just imagine all those unsupervised kids separated from parents, cross-legged pensioners bobbing up and down to join the loo queue and tall people unravelling for frequent walks to stretch out. It's enough to make anyone cancel that next foreign trip.
What happens if parents won't pay to sit with unruly kids?
Rare chance to see Harmondsworth's threatened Great Barn
Date : Weekend 19th and 20th September 2009
Opportunities to view the magnificent 15th-century Great Barn in Harmondsworth are rare so this year's Open House weekend is a very special event.
The stunning building is over 190 feet long and, when viewed from inside, has the appearance of a vast wooden cathedral.
However, this ancient monument is now on English Heritage's At Risk Register. Not only it is threatened by the proposed third runway, which would be built only metres away, but maintenance has been neglected by its current owners.
Christmas carols in the barn
Visit the barn and find out why it is worth fighting for.
It is open to the public on Saturday & Sunday, 19 & 20 September, from 10.30 am - 5.00 pm. The entrance to the Barn is located between the Five Bells Public House and St Mary's Church.
St Mary's Church, with its fine Norman doorway and Saxon sundial outside on the south wall, will also be open. Have a cuppa in the church hall and view an exhibition by local artists.
Free Parking plus buses U3 and 350 stop nearby.
St Dunstans in Cranford
If you are travelling by car or bike, Harmondsworth is only about three miles away from Cranford Park and the ancient St Dunstan's Church, another hidden treasure (open Sat 10am-4pm; Sun 12.30pm-6.30pm). Events at this church on Saturday include a gathering of Classic Motor Cycles, afternoon singing from The Caroliners and an evening concert. Organ recitals will be given on both days and there will be gazebos outside for refreshments - and shelter from the sun!
Comedian remembered at St Dunstans
If you head to West Drayton, Drayton Hall (open both days, 10am-4pm) has an GWR exhibition and a look at the local area - past and present - plus a recreation of a Georgian period setting. West Drayton Library also has a display of local history.
View details of Harmondworth Conservation Area
Cranford Park Conservation area map
All the areas mentioned will be severely impacted by a third runway.
Prescott wants third runway but no increase in flights!
Date : Sunday 27th September 2009
When former UK Deputy Prime Minister and Kyoto Protocol negotiator John Prescott popped up on 'The Politics Show', in his new role as Rapporteur on Climate Change for The Environment Committee of the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe (PACE), he was naturally asked for his view on a third runway at Heathrow.
Even schoolchildren, who Prescott has been visiting during UN Climate Week (20th-26th)to promote his "New Earth Deal" campaign, are savvy enough to realise that airport expansion doesn't make sense if you are serious about cutting CO2 emissions.
So what is Prescott's view? Apparently a third runway is needed but what we don't need is more flights.
It seems odd that BAA would want to spend billions on a third runway development if there is no prospect of increasing flights.
Come clean Mr Prescott. Aviation is a dirty business and you can't promote it, even half-heartedly, and expect to be taken seriously on climate change.
UK industries would pay the price for aviation growth
Date : Wednesday 9th September 2009
The UK may have to cut emissions of greenhouse gases by 90% by 2050 if the aviation sector is permitted to grow.
That is the warning from the government's official climate advisers, the Committee on Climate Change (CCC).
It would mean even bigger cuts than the 80% drop on 1990 levels already planned for households and industry in Britain.
The CCC is suggesting that air fares will need to rise to halt the growth in air travel if the UK is meet its targets. It argues that the money raised should go to compensate developing countries for the damage air travel does to the environment.
The committee also says global aviation emissions should be capped during the forthcoming Copenhagen climate talks.
The Chief Executive of the Committee, David Kennedy, said in an interview with The Times, that a third runway at Heathrow could be under threat.
The government refuses to accept the third runway is dead, even though the CCC is about to put another nail in its coffin.
Christine Taylor, NoTRAG
He said that when the Committee publishes its review of the impact of UK aviation on the climate on 8th December it may challenge the Government’s decision to give BAA permission to draw up detailed plans for a third runway.
If it was built, the third runway would make Heathrow the biggest single source of CO2 emissions in the UK.
HACAN's John Stewart said, “The Committee on Climate Change is facing up to reality in a way the Government never did when it gave the green light for a third runway at Heathrow.”
Stewart added, “In recent weeks we have seen a concerted campaign by the aviation industry criticising the imminent increase in Air Passenger Duty. The fact is that the industry remains under-taxed. It enjoys tax-free fuel and is exempt from VAT. And it comes nowhere near paying the damage it does to the planet.”
Climate Rush on the run in Sipson
Date : Friday 4th and Saturday 5th September 2009
The suffragette-style activists of Climate Rush have packed their bags and set off on an epic month-long tour starting in Sipson.
The Greenpeace Airplot in Harmondsworth Lane soon became home to Climate Rush as they created two main tents out of tree branches and tarpaulin, with a cluster of smaller conventional tents pitched close by.
Once a camp fire was lit, a meal was soon cooking and copious amounts of tea were made for campers and visitors.
Activities on Friday included an art session for local children; a tea party for locals to meet up with some of the activists who have pledged to help residents fight eviction; with an evening performance by a music and dance group.
On Saturday morning, the founder of Climate Rush, Tamsin Ormond, and NoTRAG's Christine Taylor, joined a group of London Christians for the first part of their third runway walk.
In Cranford the group visited St Dunstan's Church, an ancient church which is now open to the public on Saturday afternoons.
The glorious weather continued for "A Festival of Community Resistance" - a rather grand name for a get together of people from communities fighting local campaigns with global significance.
It was good to see ever-supportive local MP, John McDonnell and meet campaigners from Wales, Scotland, Ireland, South Oxfordshire and the Isle of Wight.
Those who missed this event should search out websites on: Rossport's nine-year campaign against Shell; the workers of wind turbine makers Vestas who occupied their factory in a battle to save green jobs; the Merthyr Tydfil community struggling against the massive Ffos-y-Fran open cast coal mine; the long battle to stop the pollution at Radley Lakes in Abingdon.
Story of the fight against open cast mining in Merthyr
The evening's musical entertainment was a huge success and went on well into the night.
Yet the Rushers were up early and heading off on their trek through the South West, which ends in Totnes on 30th September.
If they are heading your way, don't miss the chance to give them your support.