The Mayor of London, Sadiq Khan, says he remains opposed to a third runway at Heathrow Airport — following the release of the latest plans.
"Shovel-ready", 100% privately-funded plans for a £21bn project that would see a third runway added to the west London airport have just been submitted by Heathrow. The airport says it would like to see planes taking off from a third runway within a decade, "unlocking at least 30 new destinations, serving up to 150 million passengers on up to 756,000 flights each year" (those figure would be total from Heathrow, not just the third runway). The plans would also see houses demolished, the realignment of part of the M25, and rivers diverted. Tinkering around the edges this ain't.
Says Heathrow CEO Thomas Woldbye: "It has never been more important or urgent to expand Heathrow. We are effectively operating at capacity to the detriment of trade and connectivity. With a green light from Government and the correct policy support underpinned by a fit for purpose regulatory model, we are ready to mobilise and start investing this year in our supply chain across the country.
"We are uniquely placed to do this for the country; it is time to clear the way for take-off."
Heathrow Airport is pushing for a Government green light by September so it can get cracking, but while the Labour chancellor Rachel Reeves has already backed a Heathrow expansion — to "make Britain the world's best connected place to do business" — her London counterpart Sadiq Khan remains sceptical about such a scheme. On the reveal of the latest plans he says: "I remain opposed to a new runway at Heathrow Airport because of the severe impact it will have in terms of noise, air pollution and meeting our climate change targets. I remain unconvinced that you can have a new runway at Heathrow, delivering hundreds of thousands of additional flights every year, without a hugely detrimental impact on our environment."
Khan — a champion of the use of clean transport in London — has not outright dismissed the plans however: "City Hall will carefully scrutinise the new Heathrow expansion proposals," he said, "including the impact these would have on people living in the area, and the huge knock-on effects for our transport infrastructure, which would require a comprehensive and costed plan to manage. I'll be keeping all options on the table in how we respond."
Unsurprisingly the Mayor is not alone in his anti-third runway sentiment. Ever since being mooted in the 1980s, such a scheme has faced fierce opposition from locals and climate activists. Earlier this year, Alethea Warrington, head of aviation at climate charity Possible, said that such an expansion would be a "catastrophic misstep."
