Terminal 5

Heathrow third runway plan hits new snag

Saturday, 28 March 2009 01:00

The proposed third runway at Heathrow has been dealt a serious blow after a government document warned that airport group BAA cannot lodge a planning application for the project before the next general election.

The Conservatives, well ahead of Labour in the polls, have pledged to block a new runway at the UK's busiest international airport. The admission gives a Tory government ample time to draft a new aviation policy that will block BAA's plans.

According to a presentation by the Department for Transport, BAA is not expected to seek planning permission for a third runway until 2012. The last possible date for a general election is 3 June 2010 and BAA's best hope for expanding Heathrow is to start the planning process by submitting an application before then. Executives at the airport group have conceded that it will be impossible to compile the plans and data necessary for an application by that date. The DfT presentation deals a further blow to BAA's ambitions by conceding that the government document that must underpin a planning request for major infrastructure development, a national policy statement, will not be ready until 2011.

Read the full article in The Guardian.

Good. The government decided to ignore the responses to its "consultation" and press ahead with Heathrow expansion so that it could portray its ability to take tough decisions as a differentiator at the general election. Trouble is, the electorate has seen through that one.

We know what we have to do.

House prices badly hit by Heathrow runway plan

Monday, 16 March 2009 01:00

Plans for a third Heathrow runway have had a severe effect on house prices in the area, figures reveal today. Asking prices in the borough of Hounslow, which contains most of the homes worst affected by the Government's expansion, have dropped by 14.1 per cent in the past year, compared with 1.8 per cent across the capital, price monitor Rightmove found.

In Hillingdon, where the new runway will actually be built, average asking prices fell by 6.7 per cent.

Experts today said the airport plans had been a major factor in depressing values in the west London boroughs. Miles Shipside of Rightmove said: "It remains to be seen whether the positive effect of thousands of extra jobs outweighs negative impacts that inevitably come with such an expansion."

Read the full article in The Evening Standard.

Nobody should be surprised by this, but what about the health costs? We'll all end up paying thanks to the government's pandering to the aviation lobby.

Third runway at Heathrow 'won't help rest of country'

Tuesday, 17 February 2009 01:00

The Government was today criticised over its plans to expand Heathrow as new research revealed a third runway will be of little benefit to most of the country. The Oxford University study rejected the Government's claim that the runway would be Britain's main gateway to the global economy. Researchers also concluded that the need for a Heathrow stop on the main rail network should be "at the heart" of aviation policy.

The study suggests rail access to the airport for the rest of the country is being treated as an "ancillary issue".

Professor David Banister and Dr Moshe Givoni spent nine years analysing the UK aviation industry and their findings will be part of the evidence presented to the transport select committee when it meets on 25 February to discuss the government-approved third runway.

Read the full article in The Evening Standard.

A third runway would be of little benefit to anybody but BAA and BA, and detrimental for most.

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The Third Runway