Environmental bodies criticised for choosing planes over trains

SOME of the groups in Scotland campaigning against the pollution that causes climate chaos have often chosen to fly within Britain, even though flying is the most harmful way to travel.

A Sunday Herald survey of flights within Britain has exposed the Soil Association, Oxfam and the Royal Society for the Protection of Birds (RSPB) as the most frequent fliers among non-governmental organisations.

Their record has been criticised by fellow campaigners as "disappointing". But the groups all accept that they have to cut back on domestic flights, with the Soil Association seeking to eliminate them entirely.

A dozen environmental and campaign groups in Scotland were asked for details of flights made by staff within mainland Britain over the past year. All the journeys could have been made by train, which causes three times less climate-wrecking pollution.

Soil Association Scotland, which promotes organic food, scored the highest number of flights per member of staff. With only 12 employees in Edinburgh, the organisation racked up 39 journeys by air last year, most of them by its director, Hugh Raven. Raven was, however, contrite about the flights, which he said he was trying to phase out.

"For an environmental organisation to be guilty of this much flying is completely unsustainable," he admitted.

"But no other organisation has the problems we have. Our UK headquarters is in the southwest of England and travelling by train is a 14-hour round-trip that costs four times the price of a typical flight."

Raven now regularly takes the train to head office in Bristol, but said other members of staff with childcare responsibilities couldn't afford the time.

Oxfam's 81 staff in Scotland took 121 internal flights last year, mostly travelling to its UK headquarters in Oxford. "Oxfam is currently reviewing our travel arrangements because of our concerns over climate change and this will result in a greater use of trains," said an Oxfam spokesperson.

RSPB Scotland's 165 staff took 86 flights, which the organisation defended by pointing out that it was only a small proportion of the journeys made by train. "We set staff performance targets linked to reducing individual carbon emissions, and encourage train use," said director Stuart Housden.

Every group said it was trying to reduce air travel, and four pointed out that their staff had not flown at all within mainland Britain in the past year. WWF Scotland's 19 staff based in Dunkeld made 87 trips to London and Surrey, all of them by train.

WWF Scotland's director, Dr Richard Dixon, said: "It is disappointing to see that taking the plane appears to be an everyday business practice for some who should know better.

"Such wanton disregard for the environment must become as socially unacceptable as drink driving."

The Sunday Herald can also reveal the MSP who has flown the most within Britain is Jamie Stone, the Liberal Democrat who represents Caithness, Sutherland and Easter Ross. In seven months last year, he made 13 flights between Inverness and Edinburgh.

Details released by the Scottish parliament in response to a request under freedom of information legislation showed 26 MSPs made 67 flights on official business between April 1 and October 26, 2006.