Airports commission recommends expanding Heathrow

The commission said a decision is needed soon as it would take a decade for a new runway to come into operation.

“We now call upon the Prime Minister to swiftly accept the Commission’s recommendation, to end any further uncertainty, and to get on providing the airport capacity Britain needs to compete for trade and investment and to remain an important aviation hub in the twenty-first century”.

Play video “Heathrow Plan Divides Locals”.

He added: “The Commission has backed a positive and ambitious vision for Britain”. It is only five years since the most recent previous decision to expand at Heathrow was rescinded, ‘No ifs, no buts, ‘ by David Cameron, and the issue remains politically incandescent especially within the Tory government. They have done so in the clearest possible terms.

“Can he (the Transport Secretary) reassure the House that no matter how tempted the Government might be, he will not kick this into the long grass?”

There has been strong opposition to plans for a third runway at Heathrow. A final decision, though, rests in the hands of the UK Government.

This is what the debate over airport capacity is all about.

He continued by saying that Heathrow with an extra runway had the capacity to create 70,000 jobs over the next 35 years and would inject £147 billion into the UK’s economy. It provides the greatest benefits for business passengers, freight operators and the broader economy, ‘ said Davies.

“The extension advocated will be financed by private capital and would open the United Kingdom to 40 new destinations”, he added. He wants a new airport to be built in the Thames Estuary instead.

Helen Hansen-Hjul, who lives near the airport, told ITV News: “The noise is just horrendous”.

The 242-page report also firmly ruled out the possibility of building a fourth runway at Heathrow at any point in the future.

“And will continue to work with Heathrow groups concerning changes to flight paths that already impact communities surrounding Gatwick and Heathrow”. Heathrow has two runways and Gatwick one, compared with four at Charles de Gaulle in Paris and six at Amsterdam’s Schiphol.

“There will be more than a million Londoners up in arms about this”, he said. Once in power, he had canceled the Heathrow expansion project. But a new runway is not going to happen.

The UK Government has said that the report of the independent commission is not binding on their decision.

In rejecting a new runway at Gatwick, the commission said the West Sussex airport had presented a “plausible” case for expansion and was well placed to cater for the growing European leisure market.