Question to the Department for Transport:

To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, when he plans to announce which elements of surface access to the proposed third runway at Heathrow Airport will be funded from the public purse.

The Government has been clear that the promoter, Heathrow Airport Limited, will meet the costs of the surface access improvements necessary to allow expansion of the airport.

Where a surface access scheme has a wider range of beneficiaries, and are not specific to the addition of a new runway, the Government will consider, along with other relevant stakeholders, the need for public funding on a case-by-case basis.

For schemes such as the Western Rail Link and Southern Rail Access, such considerations would take place at an appropriate time in that project’s development process.