London Evening Standard/London
A third runway at Heathrow will not be built within the next 25 years, says London transport chief Sir Peter Hendy.
The 61-year-old boss of Transport for London told a fringe meeting at Labour’s rally in Manchester: “I don’t think a third runway at Heathrow will be built in my lifetime.
“Anybody who thinks it will is deluding themselves about the scale of the opposition.”
Sir Peter, who said he hopes to live until he is 85, highlighted the lengthy delays in building Terminal Five at the west London airport.
His comments came just hours after shadow chancellor Ed Balls pledged, if Labour wins power next year, to press ahead swiftly with airport expansion in the South-East after Sir Howard Davies delivers his final report on whether a new runway should be built at Heathrow or Gatwick by 2030.
Balls, together with a number of other regional MPs, is believed to be leaning towards Heathrow expansion.
A second runway at the Sussex airport is understood to have lost some earlier support from within Labour ranks.
Sir Peter backed Heathrow’s argument that Britain needs a bigger hub airport. But he refused to accept that Boris Johnson’s plans for an airport in the Thames Estuary had been sunk by Sir Howard refusing to shortlist the ambitious development as an aviation expansion option.
If the next government went for a third runway at Heathrow, it would face huge opposition from environmentalists and a large number of people living in west London, he said.
London’s transport commissioner also stressed urgent action is needed to clean up the capital’s air, partly by encouraging motorists to switch away from diesel cars.
Highlighting that thousands of Londoners are dying prematurely due to pollution, according to scientists, he insisted that City Hall had well-developed plans to reduce contaminants in London’s air.
“We should do as much as we can, as quickly as we can,” he emphasised, signalling that Johnson will seek support from the government’s Office of Low Emission Vehicles, with its £500mn budget.
The mayor has already proposed a diesel scrappage scheme of at least £1,000 for drivers to persuade them to ditch such cars for vehicles which emit less pollution.
Sir Peter also believes that road charging will at some point be introduced, though shadow transport secretary Mary Creagh said there was “no chance” of that happening.
The transport boss added that car ownership in inner and central London is falling, partly due to the lack of parking.
