Airport Capacity

John Bercow Excerpts

Tuesday 25th October 2016 Commons Chamber

[Several hon. Members rose—]

[Mr Speaker]

Well over 50 colleagues are still seeking to catch my eye and I am keen to accommodate them, but doing so will be brevity-dependent.

[Seema Malhotra (Feltham and Heston) (Lab/Co-op)]

The Secretary of State said in his statement that he plans to bring forward proposals to support improvements to airspace and how to manage noise, including the way affected communities, such as mine in Hounslow, can be best engaged. He stated that that would include consideration on whether there is a role for a new independent aviation noise body, but he also said that the commission had recommended one. Why has that been downgraded?

--- Later in debate ---

[Several hon. Members rose—]

[Mr Speaker]

Order. I am grateful to the Doorkeeper, who was beetling around the Chamber looking for the wallet of some hapless fellow, poor chap. Geoffrey Clifton-Brown.

[Geoffrey Clifton-Brown (The Cotswolds) (Con)]

I am glad to say that I have not lost my wallet, Mr Speaker.

I warmly welcome the Secretary of State’s announcement, but if Heathrow is to meet its emissions targets a large number of people will have to be persuaded to travel by rail rather than car, so will he say something about the western rail link proposals? Will he also consider providing fast rail links between all London’s airports?