Greens contesting delayed election

Greens contesting delayed South Staffordshire election
8th Jun 2005

Local airport plans to be challenged and other Parties' contradictory positions on airport expansion and climate change exposed.

Kate Spohrer, the Green Party's candidate in the South Staffordshire parliamentary election, which has been delayed until June 23rd due to the death of the previously nominated Liberal Democrat, will be campaigning against the principle of airport expansion, and is calling for abandonment of the scheme to expand Wolverhampton Business Airport, which she says will ruin the lives of many local people.

Green Party spokesman Chris Lennard said:"We have a major economic and environmental issue here, that of airport expansion, and an exceptionally able candidate, who has campaigned on this issue for some years. This campaign will be about thinking globally about climate change, and acting locally to stop one of the major contributors to climate change."

Ms Spohrer was born and bred in Staffordshire and has a degree in law from Wolverhampton University. She has always worked in the public or voluntary sector. An award-winning author of a book for young people with Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder, she works in local government. She recently stood for the Greens in the County Council elections.

Kate said: "Conservative, Labour and the LibDems are all in favour of promoting aviation - the fastest-growing contributor to CO2 emissions - and airport expansion. Yet they all claim to be opposed to the expansion of Wolverhampton Business Airport. They are happy to see other communities in the West Midlands suffer noise pollution and increased night flights, but oppose it here because they fear it will lose them votes - a cynical position. Only the Green Party has a principled opposition to airport expansion and new road building, preferring instead to invest in a proper public transport system and economic localisation - where more goods are produced locally - rather than globalisation and increasingly recognised problems such as 'food miles'. This issue will dominate this campaign. The expansion of Wolverhampton Business Airport will ruin the lives of many local people - we must stop it in its tracks."