Rt Hon Teresa Villiers MP
Minister of State for Transport
Department of Transport
Great Minster House
76 Marsham Street
London SW1P 3JR

Our ref: ML/C0012/CM

12 July 2010

Dear Teresa,

I have long argued that we need to take urgent and drastic action to curb the growth of the aviation sector if we are to meet greenhouse gas emissions targets.

This is true of the targets set by the previous government and is even more of a problem given that the science demands stricter targets still.

Whilst I welcome the commitment to end some plans for airport expansion, I want the UK to go much further. We need to develop an aviation strategy which is genuinely sustainable and I am calling on the government to bring forward a new policy which is line with our climate change obligations - both in terms of capital projects and driving behaviour change.

In particular I would like to recommend that the government does the following:

• Officially overturns the Air Transport White Paper, and ensure that all councils across the country understand that this policy can no longer be relied upon to underpin decisions on local airport plans.

• Commits to ensuring that aviation policy is brought into line with the Climate Change Act 2008 - by drawing up a new sustainable transport policy which ensures that emissions from across the whole of the transport sector (including aviation), are brought down each and every year to meet the goal of 80% emissions cuts on 1990 levels by 2050.

• Ensures that fiscal policy reflects the true cost of aviation to the environment and helps to reduce emissions from aviation.

For example:

• Enacts the switch to a Per Plane Duty in the autumn to incentivise efficiency within the sector, and ensure that this is distributed across passengers according to their relative environmental impact.

• Ends the zero-rating of VAT for domestic aviation, and ensure that domestic flights are taxed at a fair rate relative to road transport, reflecting the higher average emissions from aviation.

• Works towards an EU-wide agreement to end the zero-rating of VAT for aviation, and a global agreement which further contributes to reducing global aviation emissions.

I look forward to hearing from you about these specific points and about your intentions with regards aviation policy more generally.

Yours sincerely,

Caroline Lucas, MP, Brighton Pavilion

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