Airports: Heathrow

Lord Davies of Oldham Excerpts

Tuesday 15th February 2011 Lords Chamber

[Earl Attlee]

My Lords, I made it clear in my initial responses that there would not be a second runway at Gatwick.

[Lord Davies of Oldham]

My Lords, the noble Lord knows, as do his colleagues, that Heathrow is operating at 97 per cent capacity. He also knows that, at the general election, his party was committed to blocking a third runway, which of course has effects on Heathrow’s future capacity. Today he has said that we have a South East Airports Taskforce. Is that the best response that the Government can make after years of policy formulation in this area?

[Earl Attlee]

My Lords, I think that I have made our policy clear. We cannot carry on increasing the number of airport runways in London and the south-east without adverse environmental effects.