Geoff Hoon in January of this year halted all the speculation surrounding the never ending controversy over whether Heathrow should be granted permission to construct a further third runway. The owners of Heathrow have pushed hard for its expansion on the grounds that unless the airport was given the go ahead to expand it was in real danger of losing its key position as the changeover airport connecting the rest of the world to North and South America. Schipol, Amsterdam, Frankfurt and Charles de Gaulle are seen as potential challengers for this lucrative market. The city has also thrown their support behind the proposal to maintain their status as the major financial centre.

Increased pollution and noise were the main reasons why numerous local councils and nearly 7 million individuals challenged to the proposal, as this decision is in direct conflict with the government’s promise to reduce carbon emissions. This is in addition to 700 homes being demolished and the virtual loss of the village of Sipson.

The labour government contest that it will deliver above 50,000 jobs during construction and in excess of over 8,000 jobs by the time it is concluded. The fact remains that Heathrow is an iconic airport and is currently just behind Atlanta and O’hare for passenger numbers and the government would have been in danger of being hard pressed to be regarded as being culpable for its demise from grace. The Tories have advanced establishing new airport for the south east area, however, given that Heathrow parking facilities are all in place for both on and off airport car parks and a local business serving the airport is already in place. This alternative proposal would obviously be expensive and come up against opposition elsewhere and hurt Heathrow’s future prospects.

For instance there are at least 30 purpose built Heathrow airport hotels serving the airport and the business community customer stopping over and the expense of building the motorway network and new car parks for Heathrow would be very costly expensive.