Asked by: Tania Mathias (Conservative - Twickenham)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, whether he has had discussions with the Chancellor of the Exchequer on waiving stamp duty for private residents choosing to relocate away from Heathrow Airport after the construction of a third runway.
Answered by John Hayes
The Secretary of State for Transport has not had discussion with the Chancellor about waiving stamp duty. These costs will not fall to local residents as Heathrow Airport Ltd has committed to pay the stamp duty costs for residents in both the compulsory and voluntary purchase zones.
Asked by: Tania Mathias (Conservative - Twickenham)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what estimate he has made of the proportion of potential capacity at Heathrow Airport which will be unfilled when a new third runway is operational.
Answered by John Hayes
A third runway at Heathrow is expected to become operational in 2026 subject to the Government’s consultation on a draft National Policy Statement and the planning process. In its Strategic Fit: Forecasts report, the Airports Commission (AC) published its assessment of how much capacity at the expanded Heathrow could be used.
Capacity is dependent on the level of future aviation demand. The AC therefore considered five alternate demand scenarios. Across these scenarios, Heathrow could reach full capacity by 2035, but in the lowest demand scenario, capacity may not be fully used until 2042.
Asked by: Tania Mathias (Conservative - Twickenham)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, pursuant to the Answer of 28 October 2016 to Question 50202, on Heathrow Airport: night flying, what (a) flexibility and (b) penalties for violation the Government plans to put in place in respect of the six-and-a-half hour ban on night flights from an expanded Heathrow Airport.
Answered by John Hayes
The Government is seeking a legally binding ban on scheduled night flights of six and a half hours at an expanded Heathrow. This would provide an extra hour and a half free from noise compared to today’s operation. The rules around the operation of night flight restrictions would be determined through consultation in line with the International Civil Aviation Organisation’s Balanced Approach to noise management. Furthermore, it is also expected that new binding noise targets and runway alternation arrangements would be consulted on with local communities as part of the planning process.
Asked by: Tania Mathias (Conservative - Twickenham)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, pursuant to the Answer of 28 October 2016 to Question 50200, on Heathrow Airport: air routes, what legal mechanisms the Government plans to use to protect existing domestic routes and provide additional connectivity across the UK with new routes from Scotland, Northern Ireland and the South West and North East of England.
Answered by John Hayes
The Government is committed to ensuring that expansion at Heathrow benefits the whole of the UK and strengthens regional connectivity. The Government will set out mechanisms to protect and strengthen domestic services when it publishes a draft National Policy Statement in the New Year.
Asked by: Tania Mathias (Conservative - Twickenham)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, pursuant to the oral statement on Airport Capacity of 25 October 2016, Official Report, column 163, on what evidential basis the figure of £61 billion was calculated for the economic benefit to the UK of expanding that airport; and what the reasons are for the difference between that figure and the £211 billion estimated by the Airports Commission.
Answered by John Hayes
The estimate of £61 billion includes the benefits to passengers and the wider economy of a new northwest runway at Heathrow, and was derived using established government appraisal techniques. The Airports Commission’s equivalent figure for the Heathrow Northwest runway scheme was £69 billion. The difference between the Commission’s and the DfT’s estimates reflects the DfT’s further consideration of wider economic impacts included in these figures.
Additionally, the Airports Commission used innovative modelling to estimate how airport expansion could impact on the growth in UK annual gross domestic product (GDP). The £211 billion figure represents the Commission’s estimate of the GDP impact in one of their five scenarios (“global growth”), which assumed higher global GDP growth than their central scenario. GDP and economic benefit measures are not comparable in their approach or purpose.
Asked by: Tania Mathias (Conservative - Twickenham)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, if he will put in place a legal ban on the construction of a fourth runway at Heathrow Airport.
Answered by John Hayes
The Government agrees with the Airports Commission’s recommendation that a fourth runway at Heathrow Airport should be ruled out, and intends to take this forward as part of a draft National Policy Statement.
Asked by: Tania Mathias (Conservative - Twickenham)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, which body will finance changes to the M25 resulting from the decision to expand Heathrow Airport.
Answered by John Hayes
The Government have been clear that the promoter, Heathrow Airport Limited, will meet the cost of the surface access improvements necessary to allow expansion of the airport, including the costs of re-aligning the M25 motorway.