Plans for a third runway at Heathrow are once again up in the air after the prime minister refused to say whether he backs the “contested” project which is delayed by up to four years.
Over the weekend it emerged that Heathrow no longer expects to meet the original 2035 deadline. Instead, the airport hopes to secure planning permission by 2029 and then open the runway “within a decade”, meaning it would not be operational until 2039.
The delay comes amid signs of lukewarm support for the project from Andy Burnham who dodged questions about the issue on Sunday.
Asked at the Labour party conference in Liverpool if he was in favour of building a third runway at the airport, Burnham said the issue was “contested” and “principally it’s a matter for London and London MPs”.
Burnham, who has previously criticised the expansion, said he did not want to “jump straight in” before considering the results of a public consultation which ran over the summer. “There are different views and you have to take those views seriously in coming to a decision.”
Heathrow is seeking to build a £33bn runway, enabling it to operate up to 756,000 flights a year. At present, the number is capped at 480,000.
Making way for the runway involves demolishing hundreds of homes, diverting rivers and rerouting a section of the M25 motorway through a tunnel. However, it is estimated it would create 100,000 jobs and provide a huge boost to the UK economy.
Tony Bosworth, a climate campaigner at Friends of the Earth, said “putting the start date back four years makes the already dubious economic case for expansion even more questionable. That’s before even considering the fact that anything we might gain from expansion is vastly outweighed by the huge social and environmental cost.”
Robert Barnstone, the coordinator of the No 3rd Runway Coalition, said it was right to say that the future of the project should be decided in London. “It is ultimately vast swathes of Londoners that would have to put up with Heathrow expansion through more noise overhead for communities right across London as well as poorer air pollution.”
However, the leaders of the Unite and GMB unions spoke out in support of the third runway.
The GMB urged the government to clear planning bottlenecks to support an expected 108,000 jobs linked to the plans.
Warren Kenny, the GMB London regional secretary, said: “Every year of dithering is a year of apprenticeships not started, contracts not signed and wages not paid.
“Opponents of this runway will try to dress up a timetable as a verdict. It isn’t one. A project taking longer to build is not a reason not to build it. It’s a reason to start now.
“Heathrow has been clear that the hold-up is planning and red tape. Politicians can fix that.”
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Sharon Graham, the general secretary of Unite, agreed the project was important for “securing the future of good, unionised jobs and a guaranteed market for UK steel”.
Heathrow has said its existing runways have been full for over two decades, putting limits on its growth and the wider UK economy. It claims the project would unlock capacity for 40 airlines who want to operate new or more services.
A spokesperson for Heathrow said: “It’s right that ambitious targets were set, the sooner expansion begins the sooner the whole UK will benefit. Our focus has always been to secure planning permission by 2029. Once achieved, the runway will be open within a decade – and the benefits of expansion can be felt from today.
“This is a national project, 100% privately financed which will support growth today and secure the UK’s position in the global economy once the runway opens.”
However, a paper published by the Department for Transport this summer showed that airports elsewhere in England and Wales are likely to lose millions of passengers if Heathrow builds a third runway, in a significant blow to regional jobs.
Further analysis for the government also found that the overall economic boost could be a fraction of what ministers had hoped, while expanding the airport could have a “major adverse effect on local health”.
A department spokesperson said: “There is currently no live planning application for a third runway, and we cannot comment on ongoing consultation processes or prejudice them in a way that will only delay progress.
“The timeline has always been ambitious. We’ll continue to work with promoters, including Heathrow, and all other stakeholders at pace to ensure the right framework is in place for which a planning application for a third runway could be considered.”
