Asked by: Adam Afriyie (Conservative - Windsor)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, which waste disposal facilities with High Temperature Incinerators his Department has assessed as having enough spare capacity to deal with the loss of Lakeside Energy from Waste in the event of the construction of a third runway at Heathrow.
Answered by Jesse Norman
DEFRA used publicly available data on waste disposal held by the Environment Agency to confirm that the Lakeside energy from waste plant is not a strategic asset and its loss would not affect the UK’s ability to meet environmental targets e.g. diversion from landfill. Therefore there is neither a statutory nor a policy reason to mandate replacement of the plant in the proposed Airports National Policy Statement.
The Lakeside energy from waste High Temperature Incinerator (HTI) mainly treats clinical waste. In the South East and London Regions (which includes the Lakeside facility) there are three HTIs (including Lakeside) with permitted capacity of 68kt. However, in 2016 only 57kt of waste was treated in total at these facilities and 5kt (or 9% of the total capacity) at Lakeside. The clinical waste burned at Lakeside does not have to be dealt with by an HTI. There are six clinical waste plants in the South East and London Regions (including Lakeside) therefore the loss of the clinical waste tonnage at Lakeside could be met by other facilities.
Asked by: Adam Afriyie (Conservative - Windsor)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, whether his Department has made an estimate of the total cost of decontaminating any necessary land before a third runway can be constructed at Heathrow.
Answered by Jesse Norman
The Appraisal of Sustainability, published alongside the proposed Airports National Policy Statement, identifies the potential soil contamination issues in relation to the Heathrow Northwest Runway scheme. The Airports Commission also included £123m, plus optimism bias, for site levelling and soil remediation within its cost and commercial assessment.
The Government has been clear that expansion will be privately financed and costs will not fall on the taxpayer. This includes any land decontamination costs.
Asked by: Adam Afriyie (Conservative - Windsor)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, whether the taxpayer is planned to be liable for any proportion of the total cost of decontaminating land before a third runway can be constructed at Heathrow.
Answered by Jesse Norman
The Appraisal of Sustainability, published alongside the proposed Airports National Policy Statement, identifies the potential soil contamination issues in relation to the Heathrow Northwest Runway scheme. The Airports Commission also included £123m, plus optimism bias, for site levelling and soil remediation within its cost and commercial assessment.
The Government has been clear that expansion will be privately financed and costs will not fall on the taxpayer. This includes any land decontamination costs.
Asked by: Adam Afriyie (Conservative - Windsor)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, whether he has had discussions with the Leader of the House on how long the Airports National Policy Statement will be debated for.
Answered by Jesse Norman
The Secretary of State met with the Leader of the House on 27 March to discuss airport expansion and the revised draft Airports National Policy Statement. Any debate and vote must be held within the 21 sitting days of the proposed Airports National Policy Statement being laid in Parliament, with the last sitting day being 9 July. The Leader will announce business in the normal way.
Asked by: Adam Afriyie (Conservative - Windsor)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what assessment has been made of the effect on local waterways of the proposal to expand Heathrow.
Answered by Jesse Norman
The Department has carried out an Appraisal of Sustainability (AoS) to support development of the draft Airports National Policy Statement (NPS). The AoS assesses impacts on culverting and diversion of watercourses.
Asked by: Adam Afriyie (Conservative - Windsor)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, whether the final National Policy Statement on Aviation will include an estimate of the cost of clearing landfill necessary for a third runway at Heathrow; and whether that cost will be borne by the public purse.
Answered by John Hayes
The Government is currently consulting on a draft Airports National Policy Statement, with the consultation closing on 25 May 2017. Following consultation and Parliamentary scrutiny, the Government will consider all the responses received and, if it chooses to proceed, could then lay a proposed final Airports National Policy Statement before Parliament. It would be inappropriate for the Government to speculate on the content of any final Airports National Policy Statement before all of the relevant procedural steps have been taken. I would encourage the Hon Member to set out his views on the issue of landfill clearing costs in his response to the consultation.
Asked by: Adam Afriyie (Conservative - Windsor)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what assessment he has made of the (a) time and (b) cost of clearing all contaminated material on the grounds where Heathrow plans to build a third runway.
Answered by John Hayes
The Airports Commission shortlisted three airport expansion schemes, two at Heathrow and one at Gatwick. The Airports Commission considered site enabling works as a part of their cost and commercial analysis and the Government is considering all of the evidence before reaching a view on its preferred scheme.
The Government accepted the Commission’s shortlist in December 2015 and outlined that it will take forward a draft Airports National Policy Statement (NPS) to deliver new airport capacity. The NPS will be supported by an Appraisal of Sustainability which will examine the economic, social and environmental impacts of the new runway proposals. This will include an assessment of the impacts on soil.
Asked by: Adam Afriyie (Conservative - Windsor)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, whether the Government plans to impose conditions on the airport which is awarded an additional runway when making a decision on the expansion of airport capacity.
Answered by John Hayes
The Government remains fully committed to delivering the important infrastructure projects it has set out, including delivering runway capacity on the timetable set out by Sir Howard Davies.
The Government believes it is essential that expansion via any of the shortlisted schemes is accompanied by a strong package of measures to mitigate the impacts on communities and the environment, and will set out any requirements in this area on a preferred scheme promoter in due course.
Asked by: Adam Afriyie (Conservative - Windsor)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, if the Government will make it its policy that should a third runway be agreed at Heathrow Airport, that runway will not be permitted to operate if the airport breaches air quality limits.
Answered by John Hayes
The Airports Commission shortlisted three airport expansion schemes, two at Heathrow and one at Gatwick. We are carefully considering the evidence in relation to all three schemes. The Government accepted the Commission’s shortlist in December 2015, and has since been undertaking a programme of further work, including on air quality, to support a decision on a preferred scheme. The Government’s decision on a preferred scheme will take into account the Government’s overall plan to improve air quality and its commitments to comply with legal obligations.
Asked by: Adam Afriyie (Conservative - Windsor)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what assessment his Department has made of the potential merits of implementing the recommendation of the Civil Aviation Authority that night flights at Heathrow Airport be banned between 11.00pm and 6.00am on the two runways at that airport.
Answered by John Hayes
We are aware of no such recommendation from the Civil Aviation Authority.