Question to the Department for Transport:

To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what policies the Government plans to adopt to ensure that expansion at Heathrow airport does not result in continued breaches of legal limits on air quality.

The Government believes that the Heathrow Northwest Runway scheme can be delivered without undermining the UK’s compliance with air quality limits, given the measures set out in the Government’s Air Quality Plan. The Government’s view has been informed by the air quality analysis of the Northwest Runway scheme, which was published in October 2017. It should be noted that this does not take into account scheme specific mitigations that any applicant could take forward to address its air quality impact.

The proposed Airports National Policy Statement (NPS) requires the applicant to consider an extensive range of air quality mitigation measures, potentially including an emissions-based access charge. Development consent will only be granted if the Secretary of State is satisfied that, with mitigations, the scheme would be compliant with legal obligations on air quality.