Government Delays Third Runway Decision

The Secretary of State for Transport announced today that she would “inform the House of Commons of my decision on the future of Heathrow airport before the end of the year.”

Initially it was expected that the Government would announce its decision on whether a third runwway would go ahead before the summer. However with over 70,000 responses being submitted to the Government’s recent consultation on Heathrow expansion, it became increasingly clear that the announcement would be delayed. In addition the Government risked legal action because of its failure to undertake a proper assessment of the impact of the airport growth on local communities.

The downside of today’s announcement is that we still have the threat of a runway hanging over our heads for another 6 months. In addition many people will continue to suffer from the blight on their homes. I raised this issue in Parliament today as I have a number of families, who have had children and have outgrown their present home and need to move house but are trapped because of the blight. The obvious solution is for the Government to reject the third runway plans now but failing this I called upon the Government to introduce a special compensation scheme immediately to help families suffering from blight in this way.

The upside of the Government’s announcement today is that it is further evidence that the third runway plans are floundering badly. Delaying the decision demonstrates what we suspected. The consultation responses were overwhelmingly against expansion. The scientific evidence is pointing conclusively to the fact that the legal air pollution limits cannot be met by an expanded Heathrow. In addition the price of oil and the state of the economy undermine completely whatever economic arguments were left for aviation expansion.

I am convinced more than ever that we are going to win the fight against Heathrow expansion and today’s announcement makes me even more confident.

On Saturday 26th July from 12 noon at Harlington Baptist Church we are holding a conference with the Climate Camp, HACAN and NOTRAG to discuss where we go from here in our campaign. Everyone is invited and I hope as many local residents come along. With a little bit more campaigning I think we will achieve the victory we have been fighting for for so long. I speak as someone who organised the first anti third runway meeting 25 years ago almost to the day.

submitted by John on 08 Jul 2008 at 20:31