Latest Heathrow expansion may continue

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BAA can it offer no promises that that the current Heathrow expansion proposals will be the last.

The airport owner's chief executive was speaking at the London Assembly scrutiny hearing into the Government's plan to add another 222,000 flights by 2030.

Council leaders representing the 2M Group had recalled the 1995 statement by former BAA chief Sir John Egan that Terminal Five would not need a third runway.

Current chief executive Stephen Nelson said he could make no such promises today. This would be a hostage to fortune. He went on to assure the hearing that there were no covert plans for future expansion. He was simply ruling nothing out and nothing in.

The four local authorities present - Hillingdon, Hounslow, Richmond and Wandsworth - called for a full cost-benefit analysis of how expansion would affect London's economy. They argued that it was not good enough for ministers to rely on assessments largely paid for by the aviation industry.

The councils warned that air pollution could not be contained within EU limits. This could only be achieved if the UK Government secured a dispensation from Brussels.

They also criticised ministers for not subjecting the expansion proposals to a health impact assessment. This was particularly important in Hounslow where there was already a higher incidence of some conditions including asthma.

Arguing the case for expansion and greater connectivity BAA said the number of destinations served by Heathrow had declined since the 1990s - from 227 to 180.

The company welcomed high speed rail links as complementary to the airport but warned that, unlike the third runway, the cost of building new lines would have to be met by the public purse.

Wandsworth Council leader Edward Lister speaking on behalf of the 2M Group said:

"The purpose of the hearing was to inform the London Assembly's response to the Government's proposals. It is a pity the Department for Transport was not there to respond to concerns about the way the expansion proposals have been framed. You would expect BAA to argue for expansion at its main airport - the real question is why the Government has not properly weighed the environmental costs and why it refuses to order a properly independent study of the economic impacts.

"If ministers will not go back to the drawing board and start again they should at the very least extend the consultation by two months. This is too important to rush. People need time to consider the full implications of an expansion that is equivalent to creating a new airport the size of Gatwick in the most densely populated part of the country.

"If this expansion goes through Londoners can have no confidence that it will be the last. The lesson we have all learned from the broken promises of the past is that what the industry demands, the Government delivers."

The 2M group was represented by Cllr David Simmonds (Hillingdon); Cllr Barbara Reid (Hounslow); Cllr Serge Lourie (Richmond) and Cllr Edward Lister (Wandsworth).

You can view a webcast of the scrutiny hearing at www.london.gov.uk/assembly/webcasts.jsp

January 25, 2008