Heathrow plan ‘will impact air quality progress’

The London Assembly Environment Committee says Heathrow’s expansion “raises a number of serious environmental concerns”

A London City Hall committee has warned that Heathrow Airport’s expansion plans would undermine progress made to the capital’s air quality and expose residents to “harmful” levels of noise, in a letter to the government.

Last month, the government backed the airport’s proposals for a third runway, which could increase the annual number of flights from 480,000 to 756,000.

In its letter to Transport Secretary Heidi Alexander, the cross-party group – with the exception of Reform UK Assembly Member Keith Prince – said the impact of aircraft noise from London’s multiple airports was “already too great.”

The government said any airport expansion “must be in line with environmental targets”.

Last month, ministers selected a proposal by Heathrow Airport for a new 3.5 km (2.2 miles) long runway and an underground road tunnel, which would require relocating the M25 motorway.

In its letter, the Environment Committee said it believed the expansion could undermine progress made in London on air quality and goes against both local and national climate targets.

The group also referred to Ms Alexander’s previous opposition to the expansion when she was London’s deputy mayor for transport.

It has asked the transport secretary to set out how its four “tests” for the expansion – air quality, climate impacts, noise levels and adequate consultation of Londoners – would be measured before pushing on with the plans.

The committee also recommended that the government consider “caps on overall flight numbers” to keep down carbon emissions.

In October, Christina Calderato, director of strategy at Transport for London, told the Environment Committee a third runway would undo the recent improvement in air quality in the capital.

“We have a number of serious concerns around noise, carbon emissions and air quality – we’ve done a lot in London to improve air quality, and we don’t want to see those gains used as headroom for the Heathrow expansion,” she said.

Committee chair Leonie Cooper, a Labour Assembly Member, added: “The proposed expansion for Heathrow Airport raises a number of serious environmental concerns.

“Experts highlighted the risk that an expansion could reverse the recent improvements to air quality through schemes such as the Ulez.”

She said the government should “ensure appropriate tests are in place to monitor the impact on London’s air quality, on noise and for targets for no additional air quality impacts from airports”.

A spokesperson for the mayor of London told the Local Democracy Reporting Service (LDRS) Sadiq Khan remains opposed to a third runway at Heathrow Airport.

It added that he was “unconvinced that a new Heathrow runway can deliver hundreds of thousands of additional flights every year without a hugely detrimental impact on our environment”.

A Department for Transport spokesperson told the LDRS any airport expansion had to be “in line with environmental targets” and it was “reviewing the Airports National Policy Statement to ensure its four tests on climate, air quality, noise and economic growth are met.

They added that plans to remodel flight paths, would make flights “quicker, quieter, and cleaner.”