The Proposals
In summary, the Government believes that there is an economic case for
adding capacity at Heathrow Airport. It also believes that an expanded
Heathrow can meet the criteria set nearly five years ago. These are:
- No increase in the 57 decibel noise contour around the airport
- Meeting the EC air quality limits for NO2,
the main pollutant around the airport caused principally by road traffic
- improving public transport access to the airport
The consultation documents address the first two of these,
but public transport provision has been deferred to the planning stage
of any future development.
An expanded Heathrow would result in greatly increased generation of
CO2, a major contributor to climate change. The Government proposes
to offset this against reductions in emissions in other industries
by using an international emissions trading regime.
Adding capacity at Heathrow Airport
Main proposals
The two main proposals in the Consultation are:
- Add a third runway to the north of the existing airport,
with a sixth terminal.
This would make it possible to increase capacity by almost 50% over
the currently used capacity.
The third runway would result in the demolition of the village of
Sipson, and would put the villages of Harmondsworth and Harlington
right under takeoff and landing paths.
- End the current system of runway alternation (segregated mode)
whereby each of Heathrow's two existing runways
is used exclusively for takeoffs or for landings
during daytime operation (7:00 am to 11:30 pm).
This would increase operational flexibility, and also make
it possible to increase capacity by around 15% over
the currently used capacity.
These two proposals could be combined in different ways, and three main options
have been used to cost the possible developments in the Main Consultation document.
On this website, we have used the third of these options
as we believe this provides the simplest and most complete illustration of the issues raised.
With Option 3, the volumes of air transport movements and road passengers are:
|
Year
|
Heathrow Operation
|
Air Transport
Movements
per Year
|
Road
Passengers
per Year
|
|
Current
|
Existing Runway Alternation
(Segregated Mode)
|
471,000
(Base)
|
27.8M
(Base)
|
|
2010
|
Mixed Mode
at existing capacity
for flexibility and resilience
|
480,000
(+2%)
|
35.6M
(+28%)
|
|
2015
|
Mixed Mode
at increased capacity
|
540,000
(+15%)
|
40.6M
(+46%)
|
|
2030
|
Third Runway
with alternation
on original runways
|
702,000
(+49%)
|
53.5M
(+92%)
|
Supplementary Proposals
The Consultation also asks for views on four other proposals:
- To retain westerly preference. With westerly preference, planes still land and
take off in a westerly direction even when there is a light east wind. The Government
believes that the relative merits of keeping or abolishing westerly preference are
not clear cut.
- To end the Cranford Agreement. The Cranford Agreement dates back half a century
and prevents takeoffs in an easterly direction off the northern runway over Cranford.
The Government believes that ending the Cranford Agreement would distribute noise more
fairly when the planes land and take off to the east.
However, it is also a prerequisite for the introduction of mixed mode.
- To retain night-time rotation. Night-time rotation operates from 11:30 pm
until 6:00 am, and aims to ensure that each area receives noise from night flights
only one week in four.
- To retain runway alternation in the early morning (6:00 am to 7:00 am).
This is provided on a "best efforts" basis: full runway alternation in this period
is achieved on a minority of days. However, it does provide some respite from periods
of concentrated arrivals in the early mornings.