Third runway plan supported by MPs
Abi BrayThe government’s approval of an additional runway at London’s Heathrow
airport has been endorsed by MPs, ahead of tomorrow’s publication of an
independent report the contribution of the aviation industry to climate
change.
The House of Commons transport committee supports the expansion of the UK’s
largest airport in a report published today, saying that additional airline
passengers could be better severed by an additional runway at Gatwick rather
than Stansted. The report stated in view of economic benefits to Britain,
the committee endorses the government’s January 2009 decision to support a
third runway at Heathrow and an additional terminal.
It claims that a second runway at Standsted is unlikely to be constructed
before 2019 due to planning issues and priority should be given to Gatwick,
where an embargo against expanding the UK’s second largest airport expires
in 2019.
The support of the Heathrow policy comes as the Committee on Climate Change
gets ready to publish its own report. In addition to approving a third
runway, the government introduced a target of limiting aviation’s carbon
emissions to 2005 levesl by the year 2050.
John Stewart, a prominent campaigner against the Heathrow expansion said
that the committee had failed to move with the times, and that it trots out
the tired, old and discredited arguments in favour of the Heathrow
expansion.
Ministers also believe that congestion-choked Heathrow must expand,
otherwise leading businesses such as financial services, will locate their
bases in countries with larger and less crowded airports. A third runway at
Heathrow would go from handling 67 million passengers per year to 135
million.
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Filed under Travel News, UK News