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Heathrow

Most hon. Members who have spoken referred to the extent to which Heathrow is creaking at the seams. That reflects not neglect or negligence through the failure of Governments in the past 30 or 40 years to expand facilities, but the fact that expansion at Heathrow is inherently problematic. Every proposal for expansion has encountered strong opposition, and the public inquiries that examined the proposals for terminal 5 and, before that, terminal 4 highlighted the conflict between economic, environmental and quality of life arguments. I shall return to that shortly. First, I want to reflect on the conclusions of the mammoth inquiry, over which Roy Vandermeer QC presided. He reported on terminal 5 after a five-year inquiry. At the end of an eight-year process, the Secretary of State agreed Vandermeer’s proposals for terminal 5, with a clear understanding that there would be a cap of 480,000 flights a year because of the need to protect the environment and people’s quality of life. It is worth quoting Roy Vandermeer’s report. He said:"““While I consider that the noise impact of 480,000 movements could be made acceptable, I am firmly of the view that any such further increase in flights, however it might be achieved, would rapidly become intolerable. The proper application of the ""precautionary principle demands the imposition of a planning condition to prevent this and to restore public confidence that Heathrow would be properly controlled.””" He emphasised restoring public confidence partly because his predecessor Ian Glidewell, who presided over the terminal 4 inquiry, also suggested that if terminal 4 went ahead, it should be accompanied by restrictions. However, no restrictions were imposed in that case. That was in the lifetime of a Conservative Government, so no one should make party political points—Governments of all persuasions probably have something to answer for. However, no restriction was imposed and people felt angry. Roy Vandermeer reflected in his report the anger at the fact that the assurances that had been given could not be believed. Those of us with long memories have a sense of déjà vu. Once again, we are presented with economic arguments for further expansion at Heathrow, which would make a mockery of the conditions that Roy Vandermeer set down and that the then Secretary of State, my right hon. Friend the Member for North Tyneside (Mr. Byers), accepted in 2001, and which would expose those living on the flight path to even worse noise and more prolonged noise disturbance than they experience today. The proposal for a third runway and mixed-mode operation would increase capacity at Heathrow to up to 720,000 flights a year, compared with the 480,000 that Vandermeer felt was the maximum that could be accommodated. As we have heard, it would involve the demolition of 700 homes at Sipson and the destruction of the community there, as well as having an adverse impact on other surrounding communities. It would intensify noise nuisance for millions of people.