Welsh Government accused of backtracking over runway
THE Welsh Government has been accused of backtracking on its former support of a third runway at Heathrow Airport, which at one time it believed would help create thousands of jobs in Wales.
Earlier this week campaigners against a third runway won a judicial review in the Court of Appeal to stop it from being built on the grounds that it would go against the UK’s commitments on climate change.
The airport intends to appeal against the decision to the Supreme Court.
Until now the Welsh Government has been silent on the court’s decision. But until recently it was an enthusiastic supporter of the third runway, saying it would create a huge boost to the Welsh economy.
In 2009 the then First Minister Rhodri Morgan said: “My own view is the biggest benefit that we could get from Heathrow, either as it stands today or with an additional runway or terminal, [is] this proposal to have a link with the main line.
“Say you had 20 trains a day from Swansea and Cardiff and Newport to Paddington, if half of those of were diverted [to Heathrow] the benefit of being able to persuade investors to move to Wales would be enormous.
“This idea of having a Heathrow Hub station is something that should have been done back in the 1950s.”
In later years Mr Morgan was more emphatic in his support for a third runway, seeing it as a far superior option from Wales’ point of view than the idea of creating a new airport on an island in the Thames to the east of London, mooted by Boris Johnson when he was Mayor of London.
When, in June 2018, the UK Government decided to support the third runway despite the opposition of environmentalists, the First Minister Carwyn Jones said he fully supported the plans.
He said it was the “right decision” and would benefit Wales and western Britain.
Mr Jones said: “The UK Cabinet has taken the decision. Whether they stick to it is another matter and whether they all stick to it, but yes it’s the right decision”.
For Wales, he said, it was “important that it is where it is and not the other side of London where it would be inaccessible”.
Wales’ Economy Minister Ken Skates called a third runway “great news for Wales”, adding: “Of course delivery of the long awaited scheme to provide western rail access into Heathrow Airport is absolutely crucial to ensure that Wales gets the maximum benefit from this expansion and this is an issue that we are continuing to lobby the UK Government on.”
Professor Mark Barry, an expert in transport connectivity at Cardiff University, said in 2018 that he considered the rail link “vital” and said it was essential to keep up political pressure to ensure the spur became a reality.
Making the case that Wales could not rely on Cardiff Airport alone to power economic growth, he said: “Heathrow is the gateway to the world.
“And for Wales to be successful economically, especially with the uncertainty around Brexit, it’s even more important that we have the easiest possible access to global markets at an airport.
“A direct rail link from the Great Western mainline to Heathrow is absolutely fundamental.
“The arguments have been rehearsed over many years, the case has been made – can we just please get on with it and deliver it?”
However, after this week’s court decision, Labour’s Shadow Chancellor John McDonnell said: “There’s no way we can tackle climate change and allow Heathrow expansion to go ahead. I think that project is now dead.”
Last night a Welsh Government spokesman would only say: “We are aware of the court ruling on the proposed expansion of Heathrow Airport, which is a matter for the UK Government and the airport.
“We will continue to work with the shortlisted off-site logistic hub in Wales to ensure that all Welsh involvement is sustainable.”
Such a hub would see some of the work attached to the construction of a third Heathrow runway carried out at a remote location elsewhere in Britain.
Former Welsh Conservative leader Andrew RT Davies said: “This unenthusiastic statement on a project that two former First Ministers backed to the hilt indicates that the Welsh Government has lost sight of what it should be supporting – schemes that will help the Welsh economy and create new jobs.
“When he was First Minister, Rhodri Morgan was a great supporter of the third Heathrow runway and described it and the linked idea of a rail spur from Reading enabling direct rail journeys from Heathrow to south Wales as the greatest job creation scheme imaginable.
“The present First Minister has no ambition to match that, and Wales is losing out as a consequence.”