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Heathrow

My hon. Friend, who made a forceful speech, rightly highlights the huge adverse impact that the proposal would have on large numbers of people in his constituency. As the hon. Member for Richmond Park (Susan Kramer) rightly said, ending runway alternation would have serious consequences, not least because of the prolonged period during which people would be exposed to noise without the benefits of the alternation system that currently operates, and because of the ending of the continuous descent approach, about which she made a specific point. That is important to me, in a constituency many miles from Heathrow, where the continuous descent approach means that aircraft are at a relatively high altitude when they fly over Greenwich. Ending CDA would compromise that, and, with several flights coming in very much lower, the noise problem, which is already significant in Greenwich, even at our distance from Heathrow, would become much worse. It is significant that I get more complaints about noise from aircraft approaching Heathrow, which is approximately 14 miles away, than I do about London City airport, which is just across the river, only 1 mile away. That gives an indication of the existing problem and it is why residents in my area and elsewhere regard the 5:7 dBA LEQ contour, which is used as an indicator of noise, with deep suspicion. Noise nuisance is much broader than that contour suggests. It is a genuine problem, which, even at my distance from Heathrow, I experience. The worst consequence of proceeding with the proposal for a third runway is that no one believes that that would be the end of the story. If the previous restrictions were swept away, and we were told that a third runway and a sixth terminal were essential, what would stop a future Secretary of State saying in a few years, ““We need a fourth runway. After all, Schiphol’s got four runways, so why can’t London? It’s time for terminal 7 or 8””? The process would continue, there would be further demands for airport capacity and, therefore, further conflict with the needs and aspirations of people whose lives would be blighted by the expansion, and a scenario that would lead to even more unacceptable noise nuisance and pollution. Heathrow is simply not in the right location for London’s hub airport. If we started from scratch today, no one would propose putting London’s hub airport at Heathrow. The location is the product of planning decisions that were made in the 1940s in a completely different world for traffic movements, noise and other matters, and in the curious absence of any new airport building in this country in comparison with others. Let us look across the channel to France. In the same period, France has moved its main airport from Le Bourget to Orly to Charles de Gaulle. There was no problem about moving it to a new site. France felt that that was necessary and did it. We ended up simply adding capacity at Heathrow, thereby aggravating the problems that I have mentioned. If there was no alternative, and the proposal was the only way we could expand an airport that is essential to our economy—I entirely accept the arguments for its economic importance—it would be understandable. However, 40 years ago people began to realise that there was an alternative, and that we could plan an airport in a location in the Thames estuary, where there would be less conflict between the needs of the surrounding population, the environment and the economic demands than at Heathrow. Unfortunately, Maplin did not proceed. I personally believe that the subsequent Cliffe proposal was unsatisfactory and bound to fail, and I wonder whether it was made with that outcome in view. However, I still believe that the estuary is the right location, although any decision will have to be carefully planned. There are genuine concerns—my hon. Friends who represent constituencies in that area have expressed doubts about estuary locations—but there is the potential to achieve an airport on reclaimed land. That has been done in other places, such as Kansai in Japan and Hong Kong in China, where reclaimed land has created a far better environment for an airport, as flights can approach and land over water, thus reducing noise nuisance and, incidentally, the risk to public safety. I must emphasise that having flight paths approaching and leaving Heathrow over densely populated areas raises genuine concerns. My hon. Friend the Member for Hayes and Harlington (John McDonnell) rightly highlighted the risks implicit in that. In the words of the Secretary of State, who earlier argued for a strategic approach to airport development, the issue is one that we really need to address. We need to address it in the context of the Thames Gateway regeneration, which gives us an opportunity to transform the entire economy of south-east England, by improving the performance and development of some of the more deprived parts and thereby rebalancing the economy, which has shown a heavy tendency towards overheating to the west of London and too much dereliction and underdevelopment to the east. The Thames Gateway opportunity, aided by the siting of an airport there, holds out a great economic opportunity for our country. My final point is that siting an airport there also holds out the prospect of far better integration of different modes. Good high-speed rail links via Ebbsfleet could easily be established at an appropriate site in the estuary, which would then connect both to London and the rest of the country, and to Europe. That would give people opportunities to travel to Europe by rail rather than by aircraft and would improve links throughout the country. My hon. Friend the Member for Glasgow, South (Mr. Harris), the former Transport Minister, who is no longer in his place, argued the case for Crossrail, which could provide a link between Heathrow and an estuary airport and further enhance those opportunities. I am not one of those who believes that an estuary airport is an alternative. The estuary is the right location for the hub in the long term, but that is compatible with continued operation at Heathrow for many years to come. That would help us to begin to overcome the dreadful consequences of our failure to grasp the nettle and get the right location for our hub airport over the past 30 years.