No Third Runway For Heathrow Promises Mary Macleod

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Dismisses recent reports on government change of heart

Local MP Mary Macleod has pledged that there will be no third runway at Heathrow Airport.

Dismissing recent news reports that the coalition government had changed its mind on non-expansion, as “ a political ploy”, the MP for Brentford and Isleworth said the Government stood firm on its promises on the matter.

“I have spoken to the Secretary of State for Transport and the Aviation Minister who have confirmed that our pledge for no third runway at Heathrow and our commitment to runway alternation stands firm.

We have seen a lot of noise in the media over recent days but I want to make it absolutely clear that this Government will be true to our manifesto pledge.

I dispute the idea that the future of the British economy rests entirely on the expansion of Heathrow airport and think that this latest campaign is a political ploy to try and distrust the Government’s pledge on this issue.

There will be no third runway in this Parliament, runway alternation will continue and I will continue to campaign for reducing night flights at Heathrow” she said in a statement issued today (Tuesday March 27).

Campaign group HACAN, which represents residents under the Heathrow flight paths, is sceptical that a third runway will be built at Heathrow despite the recent high-profile pressure from the aviation industry.

HACAN Chair, John Stewart, said, “None of the recent stories that the Government is about to change its mind on Heathrow have been backed up with hard evidence.  They have all relied on anonymous briefings. It is all rumour and counter-rumour.  It suits a desperate aviation down to the ground to give the impression that expansion at Heathrow is back on the agenda. The statements from Government ministers – and, today, the Mayor of London – are consistent: they do not support a third runway.”

Stewart added: “It is clear that the Government is now open to arguments for more runways in the South East and it is possible that some ministers might want a third runway but they know that the political reality is that it is off the agenda.”  

 Newspaper reports last weekend suggested that Ministers were considering expanding Heathrow to tackle Britain’s lack of air capacity, and suggested that the Chancellor George Osborne had “ refused to rule out Heathrow expansion” because of pressure from the business community to have Britain as a “ hub” between Asia and America.

London’s business community has previously warned that ruling out additional runways at existing airports “can only undermine” the nation’s air strategy.

The Mayor of London Mayor Boris Johnson has also opposed the third runway expansion on the grounds that it would extend the noise impact over a wide area of the city.

He claims to have lobbied Government to consider options for new airport capacity which do not directly overfly London or other densely populated and has spent four years campaigning for an airport in the Thames Estuary.

March 27, 2012