Section:GDN 1N PaGe:20 Edition Date:190829 Edition:01 Zone: Sent at 28/8/2019 19:43 cYanmaGentaYellowb
- The Guardian Thursday 29 Aug ust 2019
(^20) National
Helen Pidd
North of England editor
Hundreds of climate protesters plan
to occupy one of Manchester’s busi-
est streets for four days this weekend
to expose the “huge contradictions”
of a city region that has declared a
climate emergency while planning to
massively expand its airport.
The Extinction Rebellion group
says that from 10am tomorrow at least
750 people have pledged to take over
part of Deansgate, a popular area for
shopping and entertainment, that has
illegal levels of air pollution.
A “canvas city” is expected to be
pitched on the street , with tents occu-
pied around the clock until Monday
evening for what organisers have
billed the northern rebellion. A similar
action in April across London resulted
in more than 1,000 arrests.
All of the events will be open to
the public and will include talks from
experts, including the climate sci-
entist Prof Julia Steinberger – one of
the authors of the UN climate change
report that warned there were only 12
years left to limit global warming to
1.5C to avoid a climate emergency.
Organisers are also expecting an
address by an Amazonian tribesman
who is studying English in Manchester.
Greater Manchester police (GMP)
said its aim was to “facilitate the
protest, whilst trying to minimise
disruption to all those who work,
live or who will be visiting Manches-
ter over this period”. There would be
an increased police presence in and
around the city centre and across the
transport network.
The occupation is the latest head-
ache for Manchester city council,
which has come under increasing
pressure after announcing plans to
open a 440-space car park next to a
primary school and spending £9.1m
on a revamp of a key thoroughfare that
will remove cycle lanes.
A recent report found motorists
already occupied 59% of the trans-
port infrastructure area in Manchester
despite making 13% of the journeys.
All of Greater Manchester’s 10 bor-
oughs have vowed to prioritise people
over cars as the region develops and
have signed up to a plan by Chris
Boardman , the region’s cycling and
walking commissioner, which pledges
to “ensure all upcoming public realm
Climate
protesters
to pitch
tent city
in four-day
‘northern
rebellion’
▼ Extinction Rebellion activists with
a ‘pride in our planet’ banner at
Manchester Pride last weekend
PHOTOGRAPH: JOEL GOODMAN/LNP/REX
PA Media
A plane approaching Gatwick had to
take action to avoid a drone , a near-
miss report has revealed.
The Airbus A320 was fl ying at a
height of 518 metres (1,700ft) towards
the West Sussex airport when the pilot
saw the dark-coloured device, the UK
Airprox Board (UKAB) said. The pilot
banked the plane, which can carry 186
passengers, and missed the drone by
25 to 30 m etres.
The air safety body concluded that
the near-miss on 28 April was in the
highest category of risk – category A.
Three other category A incidents
involving drones were discussed by
UKAB at its latest monthly meeting.
The pilot of a Boeing 747 was approach-
ing Heathrow on 6 June when he saw
a yellow and orange quadcopter pass
down the left side of the plane.
An Airbus A319 was at an altitude of
2,000 metres and fl ying towards Gat-
wick on 25 May when the captain saw
a drone pass down its right-hand side.
The pilot of a Cessna 152 light aircraft
was fl ying above Chelmsford, Essex,
on 2 June when he spotted a black
drone about 1 metre across, within
5 metres of the right wing.
There were 125 near-misses involv-
ing drones reported in 2018, up from
93 in the previous year. Just six inci-
dents were recorded in 2014.
The Civil Aviation Authority sets
rules for drone users, including staying
below 120 metres and fl ying at least 50
metres away from buildings. In March,
the drone no-fl y zone around airports
was extended to 5km (3.1 miles).
Drone sightings at Gatwick in
December 2018 caused about 1,
fl ights to be cancelled or diverted over
36 hours, aff ecting more than 140,
passengers in the run-up to Christmas.
Pilot had to take
evasive action
to avoid drone
over Gatwick
and infrastructure investments, along-
side all related policy programmes,
have walking and cycling integrated
at the development stage”.
Sir Richard Leese , Manchester city
council leader since 1996, said in a
blogpost that the Central Retail Park
car park development fi tted in with a
parking strategy “that takes account
of changing behaviour, that has the
right nudges to infl uence behaviour”.
Claire Stocks, whose VW Polo will
be used to occupy Deansgate, along
with a boat, as she aims to go car-free
herself, said: “Greater Manchester has
said it needs to reduce car journeys
by 1 million a day and have 50% of all
journeys made by foot, bike or public
transport by 2040, yet there have not
been signifi cant enough measures to
make that a reality.
“Richard Leese has talked about
car-free days but we haven’t seen any,
despite them being a quick and easy
win, so we are holding a few to show
how to get us started.”
In a statement, the Greater Man-
chester combined authority said:
“Greater Manchester is a city-region
with a proud history of protest and we
are aware that Manchester city coun-
cil, Greater Manchester police and
other agencies are engaging with the
organisers to better understand their
intended action whilst trying to min-
imise disruption ...
“People across our city-region will
still be travelling in to Manchester city
centre for work and leisure this week-
end and we hope that the protesters
will bear them in mind during their
protest.”
‘We are holding a few
car-free days to show
how to get Greater
Manchester started’
Claire Stocks
Activist
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