"Pig will fly" before Cliffe airport is built
Published: 00:00, 04 March 2003
Updated: 10:44, 04 March 2003
A GIANT pink pig will fly over Trafalgar Square as the people of Medway let the Government know what they think of their plans to build an airport at Cliffe.
Medway Council has snorted its derision at the £13 billion plan and coughed up £2,000 to buy the inflatable pig.
The floating porker will join thousands of protestors on a march through London on Saturday, April 5.
This follows the raising of seven giant banners in the Medway Towns, with the slogan "Medway Council says No Airport at Cliffe".
The double-sided banners-which cost £170 each-were placed in Chatham, Rochester, Gillingham and Strood High Streets at the weekend.
Before selecting the 18ft-long inflatable pig for the march council officers considered a blow up-pie and a white elephant as a standard.
A council spokesman said: "We think the plan for an airport in Cliffe is pie in the sky and would turn out to be a white elephant, like the Millennium Dome.
"But we chose the pig because pigs will fly before the airport is built in Cliffe.
"The Government report suggests it would cost over £13 billion, but it would probably be more like £16 billion.
"That's three times as expensive as the Channel Tunnel Rail Link and the Government had to bail that out."
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