Roger Gale
Main Page: Roger Gale (Conservative - Herne Bay and Sandwich)Department Debates - View all Roger Gale's debates with the Department for Transport
(11 years ago)
Commons ChamberRead Full debate Read Hansard Text Read Debate Ministerial Extracts
Mr McLoughlin
The hon. Lady needs to look at the passenger numbers through the terminals. At Heathrow in 1992, for example, there were 45 million in comparison with 70 million in 2012. At Gatwick in 1992, passenger numbers were 19.9 million, but 34.2 million in 2012. People still want to travel. I am sure that the hon. Lady has holidays only in the United Kingdom and never travels abroad, but a lot of people like the option to go abroad.
Sir Roger Gale (North Thanet) (Con)
Sir Howard reminds us that Heathrow is 100% full and Gatwick is 85% full. A new build of any kind anywhere is going to take an absolute minimum of 10 years and probably longer. We are losing business to Schiphol, Charles de Gaulle and Dubai now. We have to get to chapter five, paragraph 5.91 on page 163 before we find a paragraph that mentions other airports, and it is dismissive. Manston airport in Kent has the capacity—now, as we speak—to take business from Gatwick and Heathrow to release the capacity we need and to build in the time we need for the right decisions to be taken in the longer term. Will my right hon. Friend please look at it seriously?
Mr McLoughlin
The commission has looked at a number of options. I draw my hon. Friend’s attention to the conclusions on page 102, where it is made clear that the UK does not face an immediate capacity crisis. Sir Howard and the whole commission are clear that we need to take this decision so that we have the option of a new runway by 2030. That is exactly what we will be doing.