Question to the Department for Transport:

To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what assessment he has made of the implications for his policies on the financial viability of a third runway at Heathrow Airport of the finding of Transport for London in its report of March 2016, entitled Landing the Right Airport of March 2016, that upgrades to surface access will cost £15 billion to £20 billion.

We do not accept the estimates of potential costs for surface access provision set out by Transport for London. It is not clear on what basis they were derived and appear to go far beyond work which might be necessary to support the construction of a new northwest runway at Heathrow Airport.

The specific surface access arrangements will need to be determined between Government and the airport promoter as part of the necessary statutory planning process.

The surface access plan is expected to include schemes which are already underway and which benefit the airport, such as Crossrail, which are already funded; schemes which are needed solely for the airport to expand, which Heathrow Airport will fund, and schemes which benefit the airport and the wider public, where funding will be considered separately.