Two new runways planned for South East by 2030

Two new runways will be built in the South East by 2030, the first at Stansted and the second at Heathrow, the government has announced today.

The first new runway will be at Stansted, and is pencilled in for delivery around 2011 or 2012, and the second at Heathrow is planned for 2015-2020. However, the White Paper, 'The Future of Air Transport', only gives the go-ahead for the expansion "provided that it meets strict environmental conditions".

In the White Paper, the government concluded that there was an "urgent need" for additional capacity in the South East, and that there was "no strong case" for the development of a second international hub airport alongside Heathrow.

However, the first priority is to make best use of the existing runways, including the remaining capacity at Stansted and Luton, the government said.

In case the conditions attached to the construction of a third Heathrow runway cannot be met, and since there is a strong case "on its own merits" for a new wide-spaced runway at Gatwick after 2019, land should be safeguarded for this.

There is scope for other existing South East airports, including London City, Norwich, Southampton and some smaller airports, to help meet local demand, and their further development is supported in principle, subject to relevant environmental considerations, the paper said.

The plan was compiled as there has been a five-fold increase in air travel since the 1970's, and now half the population now flies at least once a year, and many fly far more often than that. Airfreight has also doubled in the last 10 years, with one third by value of all UK goods export going by air.

The aviation industry directly employs 200,000 people with a further 600,000 jobs supported indirectly.

An urgent programme of work and consultation will begin into this issue to consider how best use can be made of the existing airport space.

Transport Secretary Alistair Darling said: "We need to plan ahead so we can continue to benefit from the economic and social advantages of air travel, but at the same time deal with the impacts of increasing air transport for the environment. The policies set out in this White Paper achieve this."

(gmcg)