No Third Runway, but……..

John Stewart look at the prospects for and against a third runway at Heathrow.

It is now looking pretty definite that a third runway will not be built at Heathrow. In recent weeks rumours had swirled once again that the Chancellor of the Exchequer, George Osborne, was trying to persuade his cabinet colleagues to reconsider their opposition to a third runway. But yesterday, (27th March), he told the Financial Times that “there is no softening on the question of a third runway at Heathrow.”

It was always likely that the rumours were aviation industry spin rather than anything grounded in fact. All the main political parties now acknowledge that it would be politically impossible to build a new runway at Heathrow.

However, airport expansion is not off the Government’s agenda. In its draft aviation strategy, due out for public consultation this summer, it will ask for views about whether there is an economic case for further airport capacity, particularly in London and the South East. In a recent speech David Cameron told business leaders “I’m not blind to the need to increase airport capacity, particularly in the South East…Gatwick is emerging as a business airport for London, under a new owner competing with Heathrow”.

But unlimited expansion is off the agenda. The Department for Transport has stressed that the new aviation policy will be constrained by climate change and quality of life considerations.

However, in London, neither emissions nor noise is likely to improve without a reduction in the number of planes flying over the capital. The Civil Aviation Authority recently produced figures which showed that 720,000 people are affected by noise from Heathrow, that is, 28% of all people disturbed by aircraft noise in the whole of Europe. Thousands more are affected by noise from London City.

The radical solution would be cut the overall number of planes using Heathrow and to close down City Airport. Neither is as impossible as it might appear. About 25% of flights using Heathrow serve domestic or near-Europe destinations; many of those could potentially be replaced by a fast, affordable rail service.

City Airport would lose its main function – enabling business people from the City and Docklands to have fast access to an airport – when Crossrail is built and brings Docklands within 30 minutes of Heathrow. The Green Party mayoral candidate, Jenny Jones, has called for London City close. It is not an impossible dream. If it happened, it sure would improve the quality of life of the people in some of the poorest boroughs in the UK.