Environment Committee letter to the Secretary of State for Transport on Heathrow Expansion

The London Assembly Environment Committee has written to the Secretary of State for Transport about proposals for the expansion of Heathrow airport. The letter calls for the Airports National Policy Statement to include targets for noise impacts, no additional air quality impacts from airports, and progressively tighter standards to lower emissions over time.

The Committee’s main concerns fear the expansion would:

• Expose many more Londoners to harmful levels of aircraft noise, with negative implications for health, wellbeing, and London’s green spaces;
• Undermine progress made on air quality, reversing recent improvements;

• Undermine both London and the UK’s climate goals, including London’s target for reducing fossil fuel emissions by 2030;

• Conflict with the Climate Change Committee’s advice on carbon budgets.