SHAPPS HINTS AT SCRAPPING HEATHROW EXPANSION

PRESS RELEASE

14 August 2019

For immediate use

SHAPPS HINTS AT SCRAPPING HEATHROW EXPANSION 

Transport Secretary Grant Shapps hinted that the Government could scrap Heathrow expansion in his first public utterances on the topic as transport secretary (1).

Mr Shapps told Sky News that “there are questions about whether the whole plan stacks up” and that Heathrow are going to need to “make sure they bring in enough income to justify the billions of pounds spent on it.”

Mr Shapps also mentioned the upcoming legal challenge, which will be heard (and live-streamed) at the Court of Appeal from Thursday 17 October, commenting that“there are of course court cases to do with emissions, that sort of thing so what we’ve said is we’ll watch that process very carefully and in the meantime I’ll be having a really close look at whether figures stack up or whether building more capacity, another runway there, would add to the charges to such an extent that it doesn’t.”

Responding to the Transport Secretary’s comments, Rob Barnstone from Stop Heathrow Expansion said:

“This refreshing move, compared with Mr Shapps’ predecessor, acknowledges the serious hurdles that Heathrow are far from ever overcoming. 

“Whether it is Heathrow’s overconfidence of being able to deliver the necessary funds for this project or the catastrophic environmental impacts, it is becoming clearer than ever that a third runway won’t be able to be delivered on time or budget and certainly does not fit within the Government’s environmental commitments of net zero emissions by 2050.”

ENDS.

Notes:

1.    Comments by Mr. Shapps’ in Sky News Interview - https://youtu.be/lEOyTiqXDHw

2.    Comments in this piece from Politics Home https://www.politicshome.com/news/uk/transport/air-transport/news/105918/transport-secretary-grant-shapps-suggests-boris-johnson

3.    Heathrow Judicial Review begins 17 October – more information https://planb.earth/court-grants-plan-b-permission-to-appeal-on-heathrow-expansion/and https://planb.earth/heathrow-appeal-to-be-live-streamed/

For more information:

·       Rob Barnstone, 07806 947050