21/05/2017 London News

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The Liberal Democrats say they are the only main party

in the capital who will fight plans to build a third runway

Both Labour and the Conservatives are backing expansion.

But how important is the issue to voters - and will it be

Our transport correspondent, Tom Edwards, reports.

They are coming back and they're taking the villages the way

At this recent meeting it was very clear that

Heathrow expansion splits opinion, communities and political parties,

The main issue in these elections in my opinion will be Brexit,

but it wouldn't be too far off from Brexit.

It's just going to be one issue that I'm thinking about,

But it's an important one for this area in particular.

It would be a case of if people are still trying to push

through a runway I wouldn't be keen to vote for that party,

Many businesses want a third runway for jobs.

It's also being used to show that the UK is open

The Conservatives say they'll push ahead with expansion of Heathrow.

But some senior members in both parties oppose another runway.

The third runway I think would do all sorts of damage

in terms of noise pollution, which we can hear now,

and above all of air pollution, and I don't think it's been

I don't think any government will withstand public

opinion on this matter, because whatever happens

in the general election, the real issue is going to be debated.

Members were reminded of the county's long

tradition of resistance to interference and oppression.

Aviation expansion has perplexed politicians for decades.

Recommendations and commissions have come and gone, but no

new full-length runway has been laid in the south-east since the 1940s.

Expansion is opposed by the Greens and today,

the Liberal Democrats reaffirmed they'd continue to

The residents - and there are very many millions of them who live under

the flight path who are going to be affected by a third runway -

will not want, in my view, politicians to simply

throw their hands up in the air and say, it's too difficult,

it's agreed, so let's forget about it.

We'll continue to campaign against it.

Experts fear Heathrow expansion is being overshadowed.

Around the airport almost all candidates and councils

are against extending Heathrow, but for the rest of the country,

and perhaps particularly for the government, it's seen

as an issue of sending a signal about the future of the country,

and I think whoever wins the election, certainly if it's

Conservatives or Labour, they'll want to send out that signal

Heathrow Airport says expansion will boost trade.

Some local councils say the environmental costs are too high

and whatever happens on election day those arguments will not stop.

Where does this leave the whole issue of airport expansion? The

positions have moved now, so the two main political parties seem to

accent that expansion is needed for the good of the economy. But I don't

think that is the end of the matter. What is going to be happening, or

could happen, is we move into another phase. I've been speaking to

some anti-expansion campaigners today. They say they will fight on.

They say politics can change quickly. What they really want, what

they are looking at to get is tough legally binding conditions attached

to the project, particularly around pollution, noise and night flights.

So if it is built on residents get the best possible deal. So this is a

long way from over. Plenty of political battles ahead. Tom, thank

you. Staying with the general election -

BBC London is hosting We'll be hearing from

all the main parties If you'd like to join us as part

of the audience in central London, The brother of an engineer

from Surrey - who was shot dead in the French Alps -

has called for a High Court The bodies of Saad al-Hilli,

his wife, and her mother, were discovered on a remote road

in September 2012. His brother, Zaid al-Hilli,

said the French investigation had He said a High Court judge should

review the case. Will the sunshine last? Here's Wendy Hurrell, with the

forecast. If you're enjoying the weather, you

are in for a treat this week. Feeling quite pleasant and warm. We

are going to get a lot of it because it's going to be sunny and very warm

throughout this week, both by day and night. We go into this evening

and overnight with clear skies. Out in the countryside we could fall to

single figures for a time. In central London and other areas,

11-12. We'll have beautiful blue skies for the morning commute.

They'll see new home, just a little bit of cloud perhaps grazing through

parts of Hertfordshire and Buckinghamshire. But London itself

settled and often sunny week, we'll settled and often sunny week, we'll

get those temperatures again and again.

I'll be back later tonight at 10:25pm here on BBC One.

Good evening. The weather in the week ahead is set to be warmer and

drier. We had rain today, from this cloud in Scotland and Northern

Ireland. Notice the latter stages