£10k-a-day on Heathrow ‘experts’

MINISTERS have been criticised for spending an average of £10,000 per day on consultants and law firms to help them decide where to build a new airport runway.

The Department for Transport has paid external firms more than £3.8 million since the Airport Commission published a report in July 015 naming Heathrow Airport as the best location for a new runway.

The lion’s share of the money went to financial advisers N M Rothschild & Sons, who filed four invoices totalling £1.46million.

Law firm DLA Piper UK was also paid £1.09million between August 015 and October 016, while Allen & Overy received £15 ,955.60 between January and September this year.

Professional services firm Ernst & Young filed two invoices worth £138,765 for consultancy work.

A third runway at Heathrow Airport was given the go-ahead by the Government in October after proposals to expand its existing runway, or build a second runway at Gatwick, were rejected. The new runway could be in operation by 0 5, but is expected to face opposition from MPs.

Lib Dem MP Sarah Olney, who won the Richmond Park by-election after Tory Zac Goldsmith resigned in protest at the decision to back a Heathrow runway, said the sums on consultants were ‘eye-watering’.

She added that it was ‘patently clear’ that the Government had frittered away taxpayers’ money despite deciding ‘long before it was going to be Heathrow whatever the evidence’. A Department for Transport spokesman said: ‘The Government’s decision to back expansion at Heathrow Airport was one of the biggest boosts to the UK’s transport infrastructure in a generation.

‘Given the complexity of airport expansion schemes, it is right that we should seek expert advice to make sure the Government’s analysis is of the highest quality.