Question to the Department for Transport:

To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what assessment he has made of the effect on the local economy in West London of proposals to introduce a Heathrow airport congestion charging scheme.

As part of the surface access requirements in the draft Airports National Policy Statement, Government has specified that any applicant for development consent should set out the mitigation measures that it considers are required to minimise and mitigate the effect of expansion on existing surface access arrangements.

As part of the necessary airport surface access strategy, the applicant should, amongst other things, consider measures and incentives which could help manage demand by car users, but the precise mechanism is for the promoter to determine.

The Airports Commission, as part of its consideration of the short listed options for airport expansion published an assessment of the potential impacts from the introduction of a form of access charge at the airport alongside its Final Report in July 2015. The Surface Access: Demand Management Study report is available from the Airports Commission’s website.