The left-wing factions of the state parliaments in Saxony and Saxony-Anhalt as well as in the Leipzig city council are once again beating the drum against the expansion of Leipzig/Halle Airport with a catalog of demands and are calling for an expansion moratorium. There must be stronger instruments to prevent the DHL hub from being expanded.
Participation committees are ineffective
Soren Pellmann, member of the Bundestag for the left, criticizes that the aircraft noise commission and the airport dialogue forum are toothless tigers. Both bodies urgently need to be reformed to give residents a much greater say in decisions that affect their quality of life.
In the Airport Dialogue Forum, local politicians, citizens’ initiatives, the airport and business representatives exchange ideas on the subject of aircraft noise. The Environment Department of the City of Leipzig will moderate. The future of the forum is unclear. In May, representatives of the SPD, Greens and citizens’ initiatives declared that they would no longer take part in the forum. The reason given was that the airport was not interested in a dialogue.
Discussions will not be held publicly on Wednesday evening as to whether and how the forum will continue.
In addition, the left is demanding a right of veto for municipalities that are affected by aircraft noise or emissions. This is currently only the case if the expansion affects areas that a municipality has earmarked for its own development, says Marianne Küng-Vildebrand, city councilor and representative in the Airport Dialogue Forum.
The city of Leipzig is demanding improvements to the expansion plans
Also the City of Leipzig criticizes the current plans to expand the freight hub. In a 53-page statement, she criticized the lack of details in the planning approval process. Information on aircraft noise, nature and species protection and noise protection was missing. The city is also calling for concrete proposals to reduce aircraft and ground noise. Air pollution caused by take-offs and landings has also not been adequately considered.