Airports Policy Debate House of Lords

My Lords, can I start by giving the

apologies for my noble friend the

minister who is under a three line

mother whip today. Who is at the

palace receiving an honour and there

was no way my noble friend was going

to miss that day. Noble friend and I

welcome this debate on the

Government's revised draft airports

national policy statement. And from

now on I will refer to the

abbreviation NPS. It might be

helpful to put the debate in context

in terms of the process the

Government has followed to date. The

commission reported in July 2015 and

following detailed consideration of

their findings, and further work,

the Government announced its

preference for the Heathrow North

West runway scheme in October 2016.

Since then, we have published a

draft airports NPS and conducted two

periods of consultation, receiving

over 80,000 responses in total. And

we are now carefully considering the

responses. It is worth reemphasising

that we are still in a period of

consideration following public

consultation and no final decisions

on the airport's NPS have been

taken. Should Government decide to

proceed, any proposed airports NPS

would be laid before Parliament and

an opportunity provided for both

debate in both Houses. So my Lords

what is the purpose of NPS? The

concept was introduced by the

planning Act in 2008 enacted after

the Heathrow Terminal 5 inquiry

which lasted four years. The draft

airports NPS has a specific purpose,

if it is adopted it would provide

planning guidance for the promotor

of the additional runway and

establishes clear policies by way an

application for development consent

to the additional runway would be

decided. It might be also help ffl

ful if I say what it does not do. It

does not give permission for a new

runway. It would require public

examination of the proposals in the

light of the policies set out in the

NPS. It is then the role of the

Secretary of State, taking into

account the advice of planning

inspectorate, to determine whether

or not to grant develop tment

consent. Clearly there is need for

expansion. The UK has the third

largest aviation sector in the

world. Second only to the United

States and China. Contributing more

than 22 billion to UK GDP. In 2016.

2 .5 million tonnes of freight were

handled. Our airports continue to

grow their business with more

passengers passing through their

doors each year. Heathrow is the

busiest two runway airport in the

world and evidence shows that unless

we take action, all five of London's

main airports will be full by the

mid 2030s. Let me set out why a new

north-west runway is the

Government's preference for

additional capacity. Our analysis

shows that new north-west runway

would deliver benefits of up to 74

billion to passengers and the wider

economy over 60 years. Of the short

listed schemes assessed, the

north-west runway scheme delivers

the greatest benefits soonest and

expanded Heathrow would offer the

greatest choice on long haul routes.

It would secure our status as a

global aviation hub and advance our

ability to compete with other

European and other airports. It

would provide new domestic

connections, moving from eight to 14

domestic routes and greater

frequency. I mentioned freight and

Heathrow handles more freight than

all other UK airports combined. It

has superior connections to the rest

of the UK through road and rail and

flights. Expansion is also expected

to generate up to 114,000 additional

jobs. I want to emphasise the draft

NPS makes clear that expansion would

only be allowed to proceed if

accompanied by world class package

of compensation along with

mitigation measures. Let me without

going through all these measures

just give a flavour of some of the

proposals. Community compensation,

the proposed package includes above

statutory level of compensation for

property owners. Heathrow Airport

limited have pledged home owners in

compulsory and voluntary purchase

zones would receive 125% of market

value. The airport have pledged in

excess of 700 million to noise

insulate properties. Providing a

contribution of £3,000 for

qualifying homes further from the

airport. They have promised to set

aside money for school buildings. It

requires the creation of a community

compensation fund worth up to 50

million a year to benefit local

communities. Moving on to

environmental mitigation. For

communities around Heathrow, noise

is the major concern and under the

Government's draft proposals the

scheme promoter would be expected to

deliver a number of mitigating

measures to reduce the impact of

noise. Initial to the comprehensive

noise insulation package it will

include a 6.5 hour man on night

flights. This ban would help address

noise from early morning arrivals,

one of the most frequently expressed

concerns. Expansion would result in

more reliable periods of respite.

The draft NPS says the government

expects noise to limit and reduce

the impact of aircraft noise.

Turning to air quality, the

Government have made clear that

expansion would only be allowed to

go ahead if it could delivered in

compliance with legal obligations on

air quality. It is the Government's

view, based on expert analysis, that

the Heathrow north-west scheme can

be delivered in compliance with the

obligations. Importantly this

analysis does not take account of

any of the additional measures the

scheme promoter would take to

address emissions. For example the

NPS proposes a public transport mode

share of at least 50% by 2030 and

Heathrow has a plan to consider a

low emission zone. The Government

also considered the impact of the

demand forecast on carbon emissions.

Our analysis provides further

support for the airports

commission's assessment that any of

the three schemes including Heathrow

north-west would be delivered within

our obligations under the climate

change Act. I appreciate that there

are many views on airport expansion

and we look forward to hearing these

views and I beg to move.

SUBTITLES WILL RESUME AT 11PM.