BAA have insisted they are not giving up on the third runway despite reports that they are abandoning the project. National newspaper reports yesterday revealed that BAA will not be submitting a planning application for the Heathrow airport expansion until after the next general election - to take place in 2010.

However, a spokesperson said today (Monday) that the company have not lost faith in the scheme and maintain it is essential to the UK. 700 homes in Sipson and Harmondsworth villages in Hillingdon, would have to be bulldozed to make space for the third runway and sixth terminal - which was approved by the Government in January.

A BAA spokesperson said: "We remain convinced that a third runway is the only viable, costed and thought through way of meeting the need for extra runway capacity to maintain this country's global connections to the rest of the world, particularly in an era where long haul links to markets such as China and India are increasingly important.

Read the full article in The Uxbridge Gazette.


As we suspected the monster remains insatiable. But the cracks are appearing so yesterday's news remains positive.

As for the third runway being "viable, costed and thought through"; those are descriptions which will never apply.