New transport secretary reaffirms south east airport expansion ban
01.11.11
The new transport secretary, Justine Greening, has ruled out revisiting the ban on a third runway at Heathrow and expanding Gatwick or Stansted. In a speech at the Airport Operators Association annual conference Ms Greening reaffirmed the Government block on new runways at the London airports. She said: ‘The political reality is that the [Heathrow] runway decision has been made and it is done.’
The Labour party also joined the Conservatives and Liberal Democrats in declaring that building a new runway ‘off the agenda’. Shadow transport secretary, Maria Eagle ruled out the third runway that had been backed by the previous Labour government. She told the same conference: ‘The answer for the south-east is not going to be to fall back on the proposed third runway at Heathrow. The local environmental impact means that this is off the agenda.'
Airports and airlines privately accept that a third runway will not be built at Heathrow in the near future, but continue to lobby the Government for more capacity, with Heathrow and Gatwick both full. Gatwick published a report into the airport industry's role in economic growth yesterday. It claims that blocks on runway construction lead to 15,000 fewer jobs a year being created by the British economy.
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