Question to the Department for Transport:

To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what assessment the Government has made of the potential effect of a third runway at Heathrow Airport on compliance with EU Air Quality limits.

On 14 December 2015, the Government formally announced that it accepted the Airports Commission’s case for new runway capacity in the South East, as well as the Commission’s three shortlisted schemes. We continue to consider all three schemes, including a third runway at Heathrow.

The Airports Commission published a large amount of analysis on air quality, which included an assessment of potential impacts on limit values, in its Final Report, which is available in the libraries of the House.

In addition, as announced in December, we are testing the Airports Commission’s work on air quality against the Government’s new air quality plan, as recommended by the Environmental Audit Committee.