Ruth Cadbury MP reacts to Supreme Court Ruling on Heathrow Expansion

Ruth Cadbury MP has issued the following statement in response to the ruling this morning by the Supreme Court in relation to a third runway at Heathrow Airport.

‘‘At a time when demand for flying will not recover to previous levels until 2021 and perhaps never, this decision still leaves the threat of another runway hanging over us in West London.
Plans by Heathrow to build a third runway will not address the immediate crisis caused by the current collapse in demand for flying, nor will it address the UK’s need to cut carbon and other greenhouse gas emissions.

Many working at Heathrow and the wider aviation sector are facing redundancies and significant cuts to their pay and conditions now. Building a third runway in ten to fifteen years’ time does not help the caterers, baggage handlers or cabin crew who live in my constituency and around Heathrow, who are currently facing extreme hardship.

I have always believed that Heathrow should be better, not bigger. Even with this decision we are still years away from the bulldozers going in. In the meantime, thousands of local jobs have been lost due to the pandemic-generated cuts in flying, especially with business travel which will probably never return to previous levels.

Building a third runway will mean more noise, more congestion and more emissions for families across West London and beyond and today’s decision means that fear still hangs over us.

This ruling also drives a cart and horses through our Governments commitments on climate change and pushing ahead with another runway at Heathrow is a huge step backwards in our efforts to fight the climate crisis.

It is extremely disappointing that throughout the pandemic the Government have sat on their hands; they’ve provided no sector specific support to aviation communities like Hounslow, when we should be protecting jobs and investing in green technology. Furthermore, we are still waiting for the long-overdue national Aviation Strategy, without which there can be no sensible planning for airports in a carbon-constrained world.

It is now up to the Government to make clear what its intentions are in regards to runway three and how this matches with our new commitments to climate change.’’