The Transport Select Committee Report into the National Policy Statement (NPS) on Airports (essentially, the 3rd runway at Heathrow) has been published today (23rd March). The report backs a third runway at Heathrow but has come up with some challenging conditions including tougher air pollution targets and a 7 hour night flight ban. The Government will respond to the Committee in a few weeks time. It doesn’t need to accept the conditions but the Committee warns that unless it does it could leave the NPS open to a legal challenge. A Parliamentary vote is still expected in the summer. If Parliament backs a 3rd runway, it becomes official Government policy. Heathrow then has the task of drawing up and consulting on the detailed plans before presenting them to a planning inquiry.
Read the Report:
https://publications.parliament.uk/pa/cm201719/cmselect/cmtrans/548/54803.htm summary
https://publications.parliament.uk/pa/cm201719/cmselect/cmtrans/548/54804.htm conclusions and recommendations
https://publications.parliament.uk/pa/cm201719/cmselect/cmtrans/548/54802.htm the full report
And a summary of key points HACAN has put together: http://hacan.org.uk/wp-content/uploads/2018/03/Transport-Select-Committee-NPS-Report-Key-Points-1.pdf