Protesters block airport over expansion plans
BBCResidents and activists have blocked access to an airport in protest over expansion plans.
Farnborough Airport, in Hampshire, has submitted plans to up its annual flight limit from 50,000 to 70,000 planes.
Campaigners from Extinction Rebellion, Farnborough Noise, Blackwater Valley Friends of the Earth and Alton Climate Action Network, as well as local residents, blockaded the main entrance on Sunday, holding banners and releasing coloured smoke flares.
Rushmoor Borough Council has yet to make a decision on the proposed increase in flights.
The protest followed a consultation period on Farnborough Airport's expansion plans, which ended on 18 October.
The proposals have seen opposition from local residents and environmental campaigners.
The plans include increasing the airport's annual weekend flight limit from 8,900 to 18,900 flights and upping its annual flight limit from 50,000 to 70,000.
In a statement, Extinction Rebellion said the 33,120 private jet flights to and from the airport in 2024 carried an average of 2.5 passengers, with each passenger responsible for the emission of nine times as much carbon as an economy flight to the US and 20 times that to Spain.
"For the limited benefit it provides to a small number of people, private aviation has a disproportionately large impact on climate change due to its high carbon emissions," it said.
Steve Williams, environment lead for Waverley Borough Council, said: "Aviation has no realistic prospect of becoming sustainable in the near future, so any form of airport expansion is unacceptable, given the climate crisis."
Chris Neil, from Shackleford, Surrey, said it was "unacceptable that a tiny number of very wealthy people award themselves the right to fly in private jets, emitting huge amounts of carbon".
The government has announced plans to boost UK economic growth through airport expansion and the use of sustainable air fuel.
In January, Chancellor Rachel Reeves backed a third runway at Heathrow as part of a fresh plan to get the UK economy growing.
She has also backed expansions at Luton and Gatwick airports.
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