Debate in the House of Lords on the Revised Draft Airports National Policy Statement, from Thursday 15 March.
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My Lords, can I start by giving the
apologies for my noble friend the | 0:00:31 | 0:00:38 | |
minister who is under a three line
mother whip today. Who is at the | 0:00:38 | 0:00:46 | |
palace receiving an honour and there
was no way my noble friend was going | 0:00:46 | 0:00:51 | |
to miss that day. Noble friend and I
welcome this debate on the | 0:00:51 | 0:00:56 | |
Government's revised draft airports
national policy statement. And from | 0:00:56 | 0:00:59 | |
now on I will refer to the
abbreviation NPS. It might be | 0:00:59 | 0:01:06 | |
helpful to put the debate in context
in terms of the process the | 0:01:06 | 0:01:11 | |
Government has followed to date. The
commission reported in July 2015 and | 0:01:11 | 0:01:16 | |
following detailed consideration of
their findings, and further work, | 0:01:16 | 0:01:21 | |
the Government announced its
preference for the Heathrow North | 0:01:21 | 0:01:25 | |
West runway scheme in October 2016.
Since then, we have published a | 0:01:25 | 0:01:32 | |
draft airports NPS and conducted two
periods of consultation, receiving | 0:01:32 | 0:01:38 | |
over 80,000 responses in total. And
we are now carefully considering the | 0:01:38 | 0:01:42 | |
responses. It is worth reemphasising
that we are still in a period of | 0:01:42 | 0:01:49 | |
consideration following public
consultation and no final decisions | 0:01:49 | 0:01:52 | |
on the airport's NPS have been
taken. Should Government decide to | 0:01:52 | 0:01:59 | |
proceed, any proposed airports NPS
would be laid before Parliament and | 0:01:59 | 0:02:03 | |
an opportunity provided for both
debate in both Houses. So my Lords | 0:02:03 | 0:02:09 | |
what is the purpose of NPS? The
concept was introduced by the | 0:02:09 | 0:02:15 | |
planning Act in 2008 enacted after
the Heathrow Terminal 5 inquiry | 0:02:15 | 0:02:21 | |
which lasted four years. The draft
airports NPS has a specific purpose, | 0:02:21 | 0:02:27 | |
if it is adopted it would provide
planning guidance for the promotor | 0:02:27 | 0:02:36 | |
of the additional runway and
establishes clear policies by way an | 0:02:36 | 0:02:42 | |
application for development consent
to the additional runway would be | 0:02:42 | 0:02:46 | |
decided. It might be also help ffl
ful if I say what it does not do. It | 0:02:46 | 0:02:55 | |
does not give permission for a new
runway. It would require public | 0:02:55 | 0:03:01 | |
examination of the proposals in the
light of the policies set out in the | 0:03:01 | 0:03:05 | |
NPS. It is then the role of the
Secretary of State, taking into | 0:03:05 | 0:03:12 | |
account the advice of planning
inspectorate, to determine whether | 0:03:12 | 0:03:15 | |
or not to grant develop tment
consent. Clearly there is need for | 0:03:15 | 0:03:21 | |
expansion. The UK has the third
largest aviation sector in the | 0:03:21 | 0:03:26 | |
world. Second only to the United
States and China. Contributing more | 0:03:26 | 0:03:32 | |
than 22 billion to UK GDP. In 2016.
2 .5 million tonnes of freight were | 0:03:32 | 0:03:46 | |
handled. Our airports continue to
grow their business with more | 0:03:46 | 0:03:51 | |
passengers passing through their
doors each year. Heathrow is the | 0:03:51 | 0:03:55 | |
busiest two runway airport in the
world and evidence shows that unless | 0:03:55 | 0:04:00 | |
we take action, all five of London's
main airports will be full by the | 0:04:00 | 0:04:05 | |
mid 2030s. Let me set out why a new
north-west runway is the | 0:04:05 | 0:04:11 | |
Government's preference for
additional capacity. Our analysis | 0:04:11 | 0:04:15 | |
shows that new north-west runway
would deliver benefits of up to 74 | 0:04:15 | 0:04:21 | |
billion to passengers and the wider
economy over 60 years. Of the short | 0:04:21 | 0:04:28 | |
listed schemes assessed, the
north-west runway scheme delivers | 0:04:28 | 0:04:32 | |
the greatest benefits soonest and
expanded Heathrow would offer the | 0:04:32 | 0:04:39 | |
greatest choice on long haul routes.
It would secure our status as a | 0:04:39 | 0:04:45 | |
global aviation hub and advance our
ability to compete with other | 0:04:45 | 0:04:49 | |
European and other airports. It
would provide new domestic | 0:04:49 | 0:04:54 | |
connections, moving from eight to 14
domestic routes and greater | 0:04:54 | 0:05:02 | |
frequency. I mentioned freight and
Heathrow handles more freight than | 0:05:02 | 0:05:10 | |
all other UK airports combined. It
has superior connections to the rest | 0:05:10 | 0:05:16 | |
of the UK through road and rail and
flights. Expansion is also expected | 0:05:16 | 0:05:24 | |
to generate up to 114,000 additional
jobs. I want to emphasise the draft | 0:05:24 | 0:05:35 | |
NPS makes clear that expansion would
only be allowed to proceed if | 0:05:35 | 0:05:40 | |
accompanied by world class package
of compensation along with | 0:05:40 | 0:05:46 | |
mitigation measures. Let me without
going through all these measures | 0:05:46 | 0:05:50 | |
just give a flavour of some of the
proposals. Community compensation, | 0:05:50 | 0:05:57 | |
the proposed package includes above
statutory level of compensation for | 0:05:57 | 0:06:01 | |
property owners. Heathrow Airport
limited have pledged home owners in | 0:06:01 | 0:06:10 | |
compulsory and voluntary purchase
zones would receive 125% of market | 0:06:10 | 0:06:15 | |
value. The airport have pledged in
excess of 700 million to noise | 0:06:15 | 0:06:24 | |
insulate properties. Providing a
contribution of £3,000 for | 0:06:24 | 0:06:31 | |
qualifying homes further from the
airport. They have promised to set | 0:06:31 | 0:06:40 | |
aside money for school buildings. It
requires the creation of a community | 0:06:40 | 0:06:46 | |
compensation fund worth up to 50
million a year to benefit local | 0:06:46 | 0:06:52 | |
communities. Moving on to
environmental mitigation. For | 0:06:52 | 0:06:56 | |
communities around Heathrow, noise
is the major concern and under the | 0:06:56 | 0:07:00 | |
Government's draft proposals the
scheme promoter would be expected to | 0:07:00 | 0:07:04 | |
deliver a number of mitigating
measures to reduce the impact of | 0:07:04 | 0:07:09 | |
noise. Initial to the comprehensive
noise insulation package it will | 0:07:09 | 0:07:16 | |
include a 6.5 hour man on night
flights. This ban would help address | 0:07:16 | 0:07:21 | |
noise from early morning arrivals,
one of the most frequently expressed | 0:07:21 | 0:07:27 | |
concerns. Expansion would result in
more reliable periods of respite. | 0:07:27 | 0:07:38 | |
The draft NPS says the government
expects noise to limit and reduce | 0:07:38 | 0:07:44 | |
the impact of aircraft noise.
Turning to air quality, the | 0:07:44 | 0:07:51 | |
Government have made clear that
expansion would only be allowed to | 0:07:51 | 0:07:55 | |
go ahead if it could delivered in
compliance with legal obligations on | 0:07:55 | 0:08:00 | |
air quality. It is the Government's
view, based on expert analysis, that | 0:08:00 | 0:08:06 | |
the Heathrow north-west scheme can
be delivered in compliance with the | 0:08:06 | 0:08:14 | |
obligations. Importantly this
analysis does not take account of | 0:08:14 | 0:08:18 | |
any of the additional measures the
scheme promoter would take to | 0:08:18 | 0:08:23 | |
address emissions. For example the
NPS proposes a public transport mode | 0:08:23 | 0:08:31 | |
share of at least 50% by 2030 and
Heathrow has a plan to consider a | 0:08:31 | 0:08:37 | |
low emission zone. The Government
also considered the impact of the | 0:08:37 | 0:08:43 | |
demand forecast on carbon emissions.
Our analysis provides further | 0:08:43 | 0:08:47 | |
support for the airports
commission's assessment that any of | 0:08:47 | 0:08:54 | |
the three schemes including Heathrow
north-west would be delivered within | 0:08:54 | 0:08:58 | |
our obligations under the climate
change Act. I appreciate that there | 0:08:58 | 0:09:05 | |
are many views on airport expansion
and we look forward to hearing these | 0:09:05 | 0:09:09 | |
views and I beg to move. | 0:09:09 | 0:09:15 | |
SUBTITLES WILL RESUME AT 11PM. | 0:09:22 | 0:09:29 |