Stand by for take-off
D-Day looms for the multi-billion-pound airport plan – Cameron must decide... and Boris may have to lie down in front of the bulldozers
THE Prime Minister’s hand-picked committee of MPs will make their recommendation on Tuesday on one of the most controversial decisions of our times: Heathrow or Gatwick?
Whatever the choice for a new runway for London, it will provoke fury. Business opinion is divided and residents will be up in arms.
London Mayor Boris Johnson is so opposed to Heathrow being chosen that he has vowed to lie down in the mud to stop the bulldozers.
Tuesday’s meeting will be key. No one thinks David Cameron, who chairs the committe, will go against its advice. He pledged a decision before the year ends and with less than three weeks until Parliament rises for Christmas, the day of reckoning is upon him.
Paul Drechsler, president of the Confederation of British Industry, said: ‘Now, we need that committee to step up and show responsible leadership. That means seeing a clear decision and timetable set by Government. Anything less would be a continuation of the “Not In My Generation” approach which got us into this mess in the first place.’
The Airports Commission, chaired by Sir Howard Davies, came down heavily in favour of a third runway at Heathrow this summer, though it called Gatwick’s plans ‘credible’.
Gatwick’s chief executive Stewart Wingate told The Mail on Sunday this weekend: ‘The Government should back Gatwick’s expansion as the best solution. It does not breach air quality limits, requires no taxpayer funding and can be delivered quickly. A decision for Gatwick is a decision for a runway that can be delivered and built by 2025.’
However, sources close to Heathrow’s owners this weekend said they were ‘very optimistic’ there would be a decision in its favour.
Heathrow, like Gatwick, is owned by a consortium of foreign investors including Ferrovial of Spain, Qatar Holding and China Investment Corp. It is run by John Holland-Kaye.
Gatwick is owned by New Yorkbased Global Infrastructure Partners and a consortium including the Abu Dhabi Investment Authority and a South Korean pension fund.
The ten-strong committee which meets this week was set up on the day before MPs’ summer recess. It is composed almost entirely of MPs who back airport expansion of some kind, and at Heathrow in particular, leading to claims of a ‘stitch-up’ by opponents of Heathrow’s plans.
Those on the committee include Chancellor George Osborne and Business Secretary Sajid Javid, both of whom have been vocal in support of Heathrow’s expansion, Environment Secretary Liz Truss who backs a third runway at Heathrow to ‘make the British economy more competitive, and Energy Secretary Amber Rudd who has stressed the importance of economic growth over environmental concerns
Javid has even said he would support not just a third but a fourth runway at Heathrow, something the Airports Commission said should be ruled out. Though Cameron said in 2009 ‘the third runway at Heathrow is not going ahead – no ifs, no buts’ he subsequently claimed his promise referred only to the 2010-15 Parliament, not the current one.
The committee’s formation came as a shock to MPs opposed to expanding Heathrow, particularly as so many of them were Cabinet Ministers.
Opponents include Foreign Secretary Philip Hammond, Home Secretary Theresa May, International Development Secretary Justine Greening and Northern Ireland Secretary Theresa Villiers.
Tuesday should also see the publication of a report on the effects of airport expansion in the South East by MPs on the Environmental Audit Committee. This committee includes Tory MP and London mayoral candidate Zac Goldsmith and the Green Party’s one MP, Caroline Lucas.
It is chaired by Labour’s Huw Irranca-Davies. Labour’s leader Jeremy Corbyn and Shadow Chancellor John McDonnell oppose expansion at Heathrow.
The final key piece of the jigsaw is due shortly after the two committees meet and report – and that is the report on air quality from the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Defra), which is due by the end of the year.
Last week Environment Minister Robert Goodwill said this report would be taken into account by the Government before it made its decision on which airport to choose.
Some of those close to the airports decision believed the Volkswagen scandal over diesel emissions, which revealed that VW diesels emit more noxious fumes than it admitted, would delay the report.
But Defra said this was not the case, since its report already took account of the difference between claimed and actual car emissions.
The Airports Commission said a decision in favour of a third runway at Heathrow should involve a legally binding guarantee that air quality around the airport will not delay the UK’s ability to comply with European Union limits.
The UK has for years been in breach of EU air quality rules, which is linked to thousands of premature deaths. London regularly breaches nitrogen oxide levels – the pollutants emitted in greater quantities than previously thought by VW diesels.
But Sir Howard has said the air quality around Heathrow is a ‘manageable part’ of a wider problem.
On Tuesday the decision on which airport to choose will be brought to the brink – to be followed, no doubt, by howls of anguish from its opponents.