Support for direct GWR rail link to Heathrow

AVIATION Minister Baroness Sugg has underscored the UK Government’s commitment to a rail link between Heathrow and the Great Western line ahead of a crucial vote on a third runway for the airport on Monday.

The “spur” from the rail line at Reading could allow people to make the journey from Cardiff to Heathrow in less than two hours and bring an end to the days of having to travel into Paddington.

Former First Minister Rhodri Morgan described the plan in 2012 as “one of the most important announcements in the last 50 years” but it has since been delayed.

However, the Aviation Minister said: “[It’s] out for consultation now and the Government is fully committed to it, so it’s making real progress, so [we] absolutely expect it to happen. We do know it’s going to make a real difference.”

Ms Sugg, who was previously David Cameron’s director of Operations and Campaigns at Downing Street, said the Government hoped the third runway would be in operation by 2026, leading to up to £74bn of economic benefits. She claims enough jobs would be created to “fill well over 600 passenger jets”.

“I know that Heathrow are looking at Wales for a logistics hub, which we think will obviously help boost both the supply chain and jobs in the area,” she said.

However, the scale of opposition to the plan was made clear when Trade Minister Greg Hands, who represents the London seat of Chelsea and Fulham, resigned so he could oppose expansion. Other high profile opponents include Shadow Chancellor John McDonnell.

Foreign Secretary Boris Johnson is also considered an opponent of a new runway but he will be out of the country on Monday. Labour will have a free vote and Plaid Cymru’s four MPs plan to oppose the runway.

Ms Sugg said she hoped there would be cross-country and cross-party support so Heathrow could “get on with it”. Warning of a “real cost” to not going ahead, she said: “We are already seeing [domestic] routes being squeezed out so we’re also losing loads of business to the big hub airports in Amsterdam and Germany, so we really need this to enable the country to grow, both from getting tourists in here, getting business travellers in here; but also with freight as well...

“Heathrow is already the highest value port and with the expansion we’re expecting freight capacity to double so we’ll be able to see businesses in Wales and across the country increase their exports.”

The minister said there was a “possibility” of flights between Cardiff Airport and Heathrow. She said the Government was prepared to intervene to reserve slots at Heathrow for flights to airports in the nations and regions.

It wants “about 15%” of new capacity to be used for domestic flights. Public Service Obligations (PSOs) could be put in place to protect routes, which would be exempted from Air Passenger Duty.

Ms Sugg hopes to visit Cardiff Airport in the “next couple of weeks”.

The Welsh Government’s ownership of the airport was “not at all” a concern.

She said: “There are lots of different models of how airports are owned and run and I know that Cardiff has had lots of success.”