Press Release<\/b><\/p>\n
21\/4\/14 for immediate use<\/i><\/b><\/p>\n
Heathrow Airport\u2019s outgoing chief executive Colin Matthews has admitted that the M4 would need to be diesel-free if a 3rd<\/sup> runway was ever built at the airport.\u00a0 Matthews told the aviation specialists Flightglobal (1),<\/b> that \u201cto fix air quality at Heathrow [you need to] replace the fleet of diesel engines coming down the M4 [motorway]\u201d.\u00a0\u00a0 It is the first time that a senior Heathrow official has been so frank about the air pollution problems the airport is facing.<\/p>\n The European Union has made clear that its air pollution legal limits set in 2010 must be complied with by 2020 or member states face hefty fines.\u00a0 In the UK, Central London and Heathrow are the two big areas of concern.\u00a0 There are pockets around Heathrow which remain stubbornly above the legal limits.\u00a0 The problem is caused by both the aircraft and the heavy traffic on the nearby roads and motorways.<\/p>\n John Stewart, chair of the campaign group HACAN, which opposes expansion of the airport, said, \u201cWe commend Colin Matthews on his honesty but it simply act of faith for the airport to believe that air pollution limits will be within the legal limits by 2026, the date a 3rd<\/sup> runway would be expected to open, as the new runway would mean an extra 240,000 flights a year.\u201d<\/p>\n The Airports Commission, set up by the Government, is currently assessing the case for a 3rd<\/sup> runway at Heathrow and a second Gatwick runway.\u00a0 It will report in summer 2015<\/p>\n <\/p>\n ENDS<\/b><\/p>\n Notes for Editors:<\/b><\/p>\n (1).<\/b>\u00a0\u00a0 HYPERLINK “http:\/\/www.flightglobal.com\/news\/articles\/analysis-what-new-london-capacity-means-for-green-goals-397467\/” http:\/\/www.flightglobal.com\/news\/articles\/analysis-what-new-london-capacity-means-for-green-goals-397467\/ (published 17\/4\/14)<\/p>\n For further information:<\/b><\/p>\n John Stewart on 0207 737 6641 or 07957386650<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Press Release 21\/4\/14 for immediate use Heathrow Airport\u2019s outgoing chief executive Colin Matthews has admitted that the M4 would need to be diesel-free if a 3rd runway was ever built at the airport.\u00a0 Matthews told the aviation specialists Flightglobal (1), that \u201cto fix air quality at Heathrow [you need to] replace the fleet of diesel … Continue reading “Heathrow Chief admits M4 would need to be diesel-free if 3rd Runway went ahead”<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[7],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/hacan.org.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1763"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/hacan.org.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/hacan.org.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hacan.org.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hacan.org.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=1763"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/hacan.org.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1763\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":4835,"href":"https:\/\/hacan.org.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1763\/revisions\/4835"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/hacan.org.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=1763"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hacan.org.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=1763"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hacan.org.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=1763"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}