New planning rules to be used to 'push through third runway'
29.04.08
Ministers will fast-track plans to expand Heathrow Airport using new planning rules, the Evening Standard reports. The newspaper says that proposals for a third runway could be decided within less than a year by a new planning commission - 'sparking fears it will be railroaded through in the face of widespread opposition from Londoners'. The same process could be used to back the proposed switch to using current runways for both take-offs and landings, it adds.
The Government believes the new Infrastructure Planning Commission, due to launch next year, is vital to stop key projects of national importance being delayed for years. And Local Government minister Parmjit Dhanda has confirmed to Conservative MP for Putney Justine Greening that the commission would decide whether to allow BAA to expand Heathrow, which could see flights increase from 480,000 a year to more than 700,000 by 2015.
The Standard reports that, under the new process, a public inquiry would still be held, but not on the scale as happened previously, such as for Terminal 5, when the hearings lasted 4 years. The commission would hold the inquiry - not an independent inspector.
Ms Greening told the newspaper: ‘We need a full public inquiry, not a second sham consultation. The Government intends to push through Heathrow expansion against the will of millions of Londoners. This would be a disgraceful attempt at over-riding democracy and of massive public concern.’
A spokesman for the Department for Communities and Local Government told the Standard that the commission would create a ‘fairer and faster system’. Previous reports have suggested that the Terminal 5 planning process is exactly the kind it will be introduced to avoid.
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