Heathrow Update

Geoff Hoon became Secretary for Transport during the Autumn 2008 government reshuffle and is widely believed to favour expansion at Heathrow. However, the Government announcement expected for December has now been pushed to this month (January 2009). This is almost certainly due to the substantial backbench opposition to the expansion of Heathrow (over 100 MPs across all three parties, including 50 labour MPs) as well as to the position of the new Environment Secretary, Ed Miliband who is understood to be broadly opposed to expansion. Opposition centres on air and noise pollution and questions about the true economic benefits of the expansion.

The Conservative party in the meantime has come out against expansion with a pledge that if a 3rd runway is approved by Labour then that approval would be scrapped if/when they come to power. In addition, the Conservatives say that they would keep runway alternation (ie no mixed mode) and scrap a 6th terminal. Boris Johnson, the Mayor of London, is also opposed to expansion at Heathrow and is thought to favour a new airport in the Thames estuary.

Although this may sound positive the fight is by no means won; the national press assumes that the 3rd runway will be approved. And this is not just about a 3rd runway (and a 6th terminal): even if the 3rd runway is voted down we still face the threat of mixed-mode operations in and out of Heathrow resulting in a substantial increase of flight movements. For us this means more noise, more air pollution as well as increased traffic to and from the airport.

EFRA encourages all residents to e-mail or write to the following key members of the cabinet who are understood to be arguing against expansion and support them in their position:

Hilary Benn: bennh@parliament.uk

John Denham: denhamj@parliament.uk

Ed Miliband: milibande@parliament.uk

David Miliband: milibandd@parliament.uk

Harriet Harman: harmanh@parliament.uk

And please also e-mail Gordon Brown and Geoff Hoon and let them know how you feel about Heathrow. Their e-mail addresses are:

Gordon Brown: browng@parliament.uk

Geoff Hoon: hoong@parliament.uk

The mailing address for all of the above is: House of Commons, London, SW1A 0AA.

For background or further information on Heathrow read past EFRA newsletters or go to the HACAN web site