Aerospace Industry

Lord Berkeley Excerpts

Monday 5th December 2011 Lords Chamber

[Lord De Mauley]

My Lords, I am sorry if I appeared ambivalent. The noble Baroness is quite right and, yes, I will.

[Lord Berkeley]

My Lords, given the Statement last week by the Chancellor committing not to build any more runways at Heathrow, Stansted or Gatwick and expressing interest in building a fourth airport for London in the Thames estuary as a way of increasing the capacity of London airports as a whole, will the Minister explain to the House how the Government are going to take forward studying this new project?

[Lord De Mauley]

Yes, my Lords. The coalition Government have made clear that they do not support the construction of a third runway at Heathrow because of the unacceptable impacts on local communities and on climate change. In advance of the Developing a Sustainable Framework for UK Aviation consultation next spring, the Government are therefore considering a number of alternative measures, including taking on board the recommendations of the South East Airports Task Force.