Proposals from an independent commission on increasing airport capacity in the south-east must be “sensible” if they are to be adopted by the government.
New aviation minister Simon Burns yesterday (October 29) clarified reports last week that he had said that the government would accept whatever proposals were eventually made by the new independent commission.
“I said that I thought that we would probably accept the recommendations as long as they are sensible, met the terms of reference given to the commission, and were relevant to the challenges facing us,” said Burns during a speech at the GTMC’s autumn conference in London.
“We hope to build consensus with the other political parties as we did successfully with High Speed 2. We are thinking ahead on the future of aviation and we want airports which are globally competitive and connect to places all over the world.
“We want to find the solution not just for the next four, five or six years, but the next four, five and six decades.”
The commission, which will be chaired by former CBI boss Sir Howard Davies, has been set up by the government to look at how to increase capacity at the airports in the south-east and maintain the UK’s status as a global aviation hub.
But the commission is not due to report its full findings until after the next general election in summer 2015, although there will be an interim report by the end of next year to look at short-term capacity fixes.
Burns again reiterated the coalition government’s current policy which was against a third runway at Heathrow and second runways at either Stansted or Gatwick for the “lifetime of this parliament”.
“We will not renege on these commitments,” he told the GTMC conference. “But there has been considerable pressure and concern from the travel industry to look again at the way we move forward - particularly on the critical issue of maintaining the UK’s hub status for western Europe.
“Howard Davies will soon be revealing how he intends to engage with interested parties. The commission is in its early stages at the moment.”
Burns would not be drawn over reports in The Financial Times at the weekend suggesting the idea of a “dual hub” of Heathrow and Stansted, which would be linked by a high-speed rail line.
“It’s an interesting contribution to the debate,” he said. “But it’s premature to say whether it’s a good idea or not. We cannot prejudge what Howard Davies will recommend in 2015.”