We are seeing increasing numbers of extreme weather events, very probably due to the steady rise in global temperature and we are told by politicians that urgent action is needed to reduce our carbon dependency, and yet the Government thinks it wholly rational to allow airport expansion.

The recent report from the Committee on Climate Change (the CCC), the Government’s official advisory established under the Climate Change Act 2008, highlights the need for action on aviation, including constraints on demand. Even with current runway capacity, the CCL says that emissions are currently forecast to overshoot the maximum permissible level.

Here are some interesting facts: only about 11 per cent of flights abroad are for business travel. Most flights using our airports are for leisure and more than half of the UK population doesn’t fly even once a year. It’s just 15 per cent of UK residents who are taking three or more flights per year.

If we are to meet necessary carbon reduction targets and aviation continues to expand, the rest of society will have to take make even more massive cuts to try and compensate.

Jo Ripley, Marlborough.