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 assessment of the cost to the public purse in relation to Heathrow Airport Limited in the event that the Airports National Policy Statement is not approved by Parliament.
Answered by Jesse Norman
The Government is clear that the construction of the Northwest Runway at Heathrow will be financed entirely by the private sector. Should the Airports National Policy Statement not be approved by Parliament, there would be no financial liability on the Government.
There is no agreement in place between HAL and the Department that gives rise to a right to claim for damages, losses, liabilities, costs and/or expenses or any other relief.
Asked by: Adam Afriyie (Conservative - Windsor)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, whether he has discussed with the Leader of the House the date on which the final vote on the Airports National Policy Statement is planned to take place.
Answered by Jesse Norman
The Secretary of State for Transport has regular discussions with the Leader of the House on a wide range of issues. The NPS was laid on 5 June and will be subject to a debate and vote in the House of Commons within 21 sitting days of laying the final NPS in Parliament. The last date that can take place is 9 July 2018.
Asked by: Adam Afriyie (Conservative - Windsor)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, with reference to paragraph 1.113 of the Government Response to the Transport Committee Report on the revised draft Airports National Policy Statement, HC 548. what the evidential basis was for his Department's statement that there is sufficient waste management capacity to absorb any Lakeside loss.
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, 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.