Transport Insights

With ministers spinning a review of airports policy as bringing a third runway at Heathrow “one step closer to take-off”, the chair of the Commons Transport Committee has welcomed the move as bringing a dose of reality to the climate-damaging plan.

Transport secretary Heidi Alexander launched a previously promised review of the Airports National Policy Statement (ANPS), which her department said “will provide the framework within which any future expansion will be considered”.

The Department for Transport said a draft ANPS will be published for consultation by summer 2026 “so that a decision can be made on a third runway by the end of this parliament to realise the government’s ambition of seeing flights take off from a new runway by 2035”.

It issued a press release full of quotes about backing builders, not blockers, signalling that it sees the outcome of the review as a forgone conclusion.

But Transport Committee chair Ruth Cadbury sees things rather differently:

Today’s announcement that the Government will review the Airports National Policy Statement is a welcome opportunity for the Government to examine the expansion of airports against its climate, environment, and national growth commitments. It has yet to fully explain how it expects pressing ahead with a third runway at Heathrow, alongside other already approved projects such as a second runway at Gatwick, will meet its legally-binding climate targets.

It’s like trying to slow the car by hitting the gas and is a cause for serious concern.

The link between airport expansion and economic growth, especially the impact on UK regions and their airports, is also unclear. How will an expanded Heathrow benefit passengers and businesses operating in, say, the Northeast? What do the regions get in return for this very significant investment in London and the South East?

Unanswered questions remain over what, if any, improvements there will be to public transport access to the airport to avoid yet more traffic congestion that would further add to pollution, and we’d like reassurances that the cost will not, ultimately, be passed on to passengers and freight handlers.

Alexander told MPs that a third runway at Heathrow has been factored into Carbon Budget 6 but I really don’t know what she is talking about.