28-11-02

Barrett slams Government for air consultation chaos

John Barrett, Scottish Liberal Democrat MP for Edinburgh West, today slammed for the Government for allowing the consultation on air transport to "collapse into chaos."

It follows the decision of the Transport Secretary, Alistair Darling, to extend the consultation for another 5 months, following the judgement by the high court against the Government for not including options for Gatwick airport.

A White Paper outlining specific proposals has now been postponed until the autumn of 2003.

After questioning Alistair Darling in the House of Commons, John Barrett MP said:

"Although the extension to the consultation process does allow the Transport Secretary to remove the many flaws which I highlighted, the blame for this consultation process collapsing into chaos lies entirely at the Government's door.

"It has now left communities like Kirkliston and Cramond, which are close to the airport or under the flight path, with up to five more months of uncertainty. Because of the Government's failings, it appears my constituency, along with the rest of Edinburgh, will now have to wait up to year until specific proposals are brought to the table.

"It is now imperative the Government now brings forward a document which stands up to scrutiny and which is absent of the many flaws contained in the original document."

ENDS