The influential Environmental Audit Committee in a report (1) issued today has said that the Government is still not doing enough to mitigate the environmental impacts of the planned new runway at Heathrow.
Mary Creagh MP, Chair of the Environmental Audit Committee, said: “If the Government wants to get Heathrow expansion off the ground it needs to show that a third runway can be built and run without exceeding legal limits on air pollution or breaching our carbon budgets.” The report also found that the measures to tackle noise lacked ambition.
John Stewart, the chair of HACAN, the campaign group which opposes Heathrow expansion, said, “The Committee is saying in no uncertain terms that both the Government and Heathrow Airport have got to up their game big-time if they are to have any chance of getting a third runway. They have got to prove they can deliver on noise, climate and air pollution, not just say they can.”
The report comes out just weeks after the Government launched a public consultation on a third runway at Heathrow. The consultation ends on 25th May. Later this year or early next year MPs are expected to be asked to vote on the runway. Only if they vote in favour will a third runway become Government policy and Heathrow will be able to draw up detailed plans for it.
(1). The report: https://www.publications.parliament.uk/pa/cm201617/cmselect/cmenvaud/840/84002.htm
ENDS