Council’s urge the Government to quit plans to expand Heathrow following Parliamentary report
Four councils are urging the Government to give-up their plans to expand Heathrow, following a Parliamentary report which points out that the Government can’t demonstrate the airport can achieve legal environmental limits.
In the report, issued today by the cross party cross party Environmental Audit Committee, it states that there is little evidence that the airport can expand without continuing to exceed legal limits on air pollution.
This confirms the views of Hillingdon, Richmond Wandsworth and Windsor and Maidenhead councils, who are campaigning that the airport cannot be expanded.
The report also highlights the Government has provided no precise timing of a night flight ban and little evidence that predictable respite can be achieved if the airport is expanded.
In addition, the Government is relying on people switching to cleaner cars to reduce air pollution but there is no confidence that the Government will meet its targets for uptake.
This means that there was no sound basis for picking Heathrow 3rd runway for the current NPS consultation, and that the current consultation is seriously misleading.
Lord True, Leader of Richmond Council, said:
“We already take far more than any other European airport’s noise and air pollution. We already do our bit for the national interest. But enough is enough. The Government need to stop the spin and come clean on the real impact of expansion.”
