Question to the Department for Transport:

To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what assessment he has made of the effect of the absence of an air quality strategy on the draft national policy statement on airports.

The Government is determined to meet its air quality obligations. The Government published the final UK Air Quality Plan on 26 July which includes additional measures to improve air quality nationwide.

The Government consulted on a draft Airports NPS between 2 February and 25 May this year and the consultation document was clear that further work was underway to update the evidence base, including revised aviation demand forecasts and the government’s final Air Quality Plan. The Secretary of State for Transport announced on 7 September that there is a need to conduct a short period of further consultation to allow this updated evidence to be taken into account.

The draft Airports National Policy Statement sets out the Government’s view that, with a suitable package of policy and mitigation measures, the Heathrow Northwest Runway scheme would be capable of being delivered without impacting the UK’s compliance with air quality limit values. The government will make meeting air quality legal requirements a condition of planning approval.