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Geoff Hoon supports Heathrow's third runway

Geoff Hoon supports Heathrows third runway Transport secretary Geoff Hoon has reiterated his support during a House of Commons debate for the creation of a third runway at Heathrow Airport.

Mr Hoon said that extra capacity is required at Heathrow Airport in order to avoid "steady erosion" at the hub alongside the loss of British jobs, reported Sky News.

He explained to MPs that the government intends to reach a decision on the proposed expansion of Heathrow by the end of the year.


Mr Hoon said: "It is right that we bring this period of uncertainty to an end as soon as practically possible for the benefit of people directly affected and for the country as a whole."

"But it is also right that we carefully and thoroughly review all of the evidence available before reaching our conclusions," he added. That is precisely what we are doing."


However, Mr Hoon's comments were met with opposition from many Labour backbench MPs who are opposed to expansion at the airport.

Martin Salter MP said that if the runway went ahead then the government will not have a "snowball's chance in hell" of meeting environmental and air quality standards.

"Any increase in capacity is going to increase carbon emissions, going to increase gridlock," added Mr Salter.

Fiona Mactaggart expressed concern about the damaging increases in road traffic in her Slough constituency that would derive from the runway expansion.

Mr Hoon stressed that the government will only support expansion at the airport "subject to the clear environmental conditions ".


Airport News posted on 12 November 2008

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