UK govt expected to give green light for Heathrow runway

The UK government is expected to give the go-ahead today to a third runway at Heathrow Airport.

According to sources, Transport Secretary Geoff Hoon will tell MPs today that the Government will back the £9bn (€9.9bn) expansion of the west London airport which will include a sixth terminal.

The move will anger dozens of Labour backbenchers, opposition MPs, local residents, local councils and environmental groups who are unlikely to be mollified by any concessions the government makes.

Concessions could come in the form of an announcement of improved rail links to Heathrow, strict monitoring of Heathrow noise, and pollution levels and plans to make more use of the two existing runways.

Airlines, big business and some unions are in favour of expansion which will see a 2,200 metre-long third runway constructed by around 2019/20 to run parallel to and north of the existing runways.

The pro-expansion lobby argues that Heathrow is already full and that the economy of London and the whole of the UK will suffer unless there is expansion of the country’s biggest airport.

Unions in favour of the expansion say it will create 65,000 jobs and British Airways – the biggest airline at Heathrow – has said that new aircraft will emit 55% less CO2 in 2020 than planes in the year 2000.

Greenpeace has bought a section of land on the proposed site and is dividing it between hundreds of individuals in a bid to gridlock the runway planning process with legal challenges.

Greenpeace executive director John Sauven said: “If it’s a green light it will shred the last vestiges of Brown’s environmental credibility.”

Friends of the Earth said expanding Heathrow would “shatter the government’s international reputation on climate change and seriously threaten the UK’s ability to meet its targets for cutting emissions”.