LETTER : Sky for sale

IT IS extremely worrying to see the Government so complacent about allowing the commercialisation of our skies ("Sky's the limit as ministers relax ban on aerial adverts", 7 January). In the Parliamentary Standing Committee that debated the legislation, I pressed the minister, Steven Norris, who claimed it was part of establishing a "really free market". But as no environmental appraisal of the proposals has been undertaken it is unlikely that advertisers will be subjected to the "real" costs of their visual and aural pollution of our skies. Advertisers have already been quoted saying aircraft will become excellent shop windows for their products. The Government's obsession with deregulation may mean there is no escape from advertising even in the last great wilderness - our skies.

Graham Allen MP

Shadow Minister for Transport

London SW1