Support for the controversial third runway at Heathrow will come from the cross-party Commons Transport Select Committee today, when it publishes a key report into the future of aviation in the UK.

In the first part of a report that will argue for countrywide high-speed rail links to support an anticipated surge in demand for air travel, the committee of MPs will also recommend that any increase to air passenger duty (APD) must take into account the state of the aviation industry in the present economic recession.

The Future of Aviation report will state that British airports, particularly Heathrow, must be better connected to prevent them losing out to other European travel hubs that are more easily accessible.

It will argue that the environmental impact of an increase in air travel could be reduced through the introduction of new rail links and that a better high-speed network might “provide an alternative to some domestic flights”. However, the MPs will concede that the extent to which train travel can replace short-haul flights is uncertain. It remains the subject of diverging views among air and rail operators.

Read the full article in The Times.


World leaders are gathering in Copenhagen for the UN summit on climate change and what does the Transport Select Committee do? It recommends expansion of airport capacity in the south east.

Bring on the election.

BAA is pushing ahead with a planning application for a third runway at Heathrow despite a warning from the government-backed Carbon Trust that airport expansion might have to be curbed to meet emission reduction targets.

Britain's largest airport owner has told the transport secretary, Lord Adonis, that it expects to launch a consultation on its plans after next spring. That could coincide with a general election, when the government's backing for a third runway is expected to cost it support in the capital. The Conservatives and Liberal Democrats oppose Heathrow expansion.

However, the Carbon Trust, a government-funded agency that promotes low-carbon technologies, believes that politicians will have to consider a runway embargo and aviation taxes if the airline industry continues to grow unchecked.

Read the full article in The Guardian.


The government's backing for the third runway will cost it support at the election.

And BAA will be wasting its debt-stapped owner's cash by going ahead with the planning application.

The government colluded with the airports operator BAA to skew evidence in favour of expanding Heathrow and play down facts that could help opponents, secret documents indicate. It was so concerned about the content of internal emails and memos about Heathrow expansion that it spent 18 months trying to prevent them being revealed. They were obtained only after Justine Greening, Tory MP for Putney, complained to the freedom of information watchdog.

Email exchanges and memos between BAA and government officials show how they relied on research that they knew would not stand up to scrutiny. They also show that officials discussed taking out references to technical notes containing crucial evidence, so that opponents of expansion would not know they existed.

The memos show the government knew it was presenting flawed evidence to bolster its case for expanding Heathrow.

One memo written in November 2007 claimed that "90% of businesses in the southeast" rated it as either "vital" or "very important" to their business. Yet officials also noted that the "conclusion [is] based on a very low sample size" and that it should be "used with caution". Yet the data was presented by the government in public documents to show that failure to expand Heathrow could badly damage the economy. No mention was made of the fact that only 2.6% of the 6,000 businesses to which questionnaires had been sent had responded.

Read the full article in The Sunday Times.


BAA has been driving government policy on Heathrow for years. This evidence not only supports that view, but also confirms the spin and manipulation used by the DfT to support the case for expansion.

In the Commons debate on Heathrow on 2nd April 2008, Michael Meacher said "there must be accountability" for a government department using selective data and that "leading civil servants ... should be disciplined and, if necessary, removed". Nothing has happened.

How much more evidence is needed before something is done?

Anti-aviation activists will help residents around Heathrow airport barricade their homes and resist compulsory purchase orders to block construction of a third runway. Campaigners believe the sight of the British Airports Authority and the police evicting people could help halt the airport's expansion.

BAA is to start buying 700 properties under threat from the third runway, which has government backing but is opposed by the Tories and Lib-Dems. BAA said this would "reduce the uncertainty faced by residents wishing to sell their property".

Read the full article in The Evening Standard.


The only thing which will reduce the uncertainty is the scrapping of plans to expand Heathrow.

BAA's bully-boy tactics must be resisted until that happens.

From its opening in 2001, the Eden Project in Cornwall has come to exemplify the fightback against global warming – and its designer, Sir Nicholas Grimshaw, has basked in the green glow of a reputation as one of the country's most sustainable architects.

But environmental campaigners today branded the firm's green claims "laughable" after it emerged that the practice led by Grimshaw, the president of the Royal Academy, was set to be named lead designer of Heathrow's £8bn third runway expansion. The project will allow an extra 350 flights and transform Heathrow into the single biggest emitter of CO2 in the UK, according to Greenpeace.

Grimshaw's selection has yet to be formally announced by Heathrow's operator, BAA, but rivals for the job have been privately informed by the client that the firm has won the contract, the architecture newspaper Building Design reported today. That was confirmed by competing architects, as environmentalists pledged to take direct action against Grimshaw in the coming weeks to try to persuade the firm to stand down from the job.

Read the full article in The Guardian.


We wonder why Grimshaw would risk it's reputation for a contract which will is unlikely to be fulfilled.

It will be interesting to hear the PR spin on this one. No doubt BAA will give them some guidance.

BAA today announced plans to pump an extra £500 million into its London airports group in order to pay down debts and help to pay for refurbishments at Heathrow. The cash injection will consist of £200 million of new equity from shareholders and £300 million from BAA Airports and FGP Topco, the group's holding company.

The move follows the Government's call in October for major UK airports to bolster their finances. BAA said that the funds would be used to help to fund an overhaul at Heathrow, including the construction of a new Terminal 2.

The company is planning to spend £1 billion per year on improvements at Heathrow, London's biggest airport.

Read the full article in The Times.


It remains to be seen whether BAA really can spend £1 billion per year on improving Heathrow, having just lost £785m in the first nine months of this year.

At least it won't be spent on any kind of expansion.