Heathrow Airport and a third runway

The Assembly notes the Government’s policy as set out in a National Policy Statement supporting the expansion of Heathrow Airport and a third runway. The Assembly notes that around 673,000 households are already affected by Heathrow’s two runways, but Civil Aviation Authority documents released after a freedom of information request have revealed that 973,000 households around Heathrow will experience increased daytime noise by 2050 after a third runway is built.¹

The Assembly further notes that spare capacity exists in many South East airports and that international air travel from other regional airports such as Birmingham, Manchester and Edinburgh could also support point to point international connections, assisting UK passengers and businesses.

The Assembly acknowledges the work carried out by Transport for London (TfL) which estimates the cost of surface transport improvements to meet the needs of an expanded Heathrow airport to be underestimated by more than £10 billion by the Airports Commission.²

The Assembly further acknowledges the recent work of the House of Commons Transport Committee which, despite previously supporting Heathrow expansion, has made it clear that additional safeguards are needed before any vote takes place in Parliament to ensure that the adverse environmental, social and health impacts on affected communities of a third Heathrow runway are fully addressed. The Committee also highlighted the need to address waste management issues as a result of the need to move the Lakeside Energy from Waste plant from its current location if a further runway is built at Heathrow.

The Assembly believes that many fundamental issues remain unresolved about the expansion of Heathrow airport. The Assembly therefore wishes to reiterate its long-standing opposition to a third runway at Heathrow airport and the Assembly resolves that, in the light of its fundamental objection to this, we will campaign to prevent its implementation.

The Assembly asks the Mayor to join with us to ensure that this threat to the health and environment of Londoners does not materialise.

^[1] https://www.whatdotheyknow.com/request/aviation_policy_framework_metric_2#incoming-1104762

^[2] http://content.tfl.gov.uk/ac-consult-04-surface-access-road-rail.pdf