We can have hundreds of extra flights a day and still be green - ministers

Climate worries brushed aside as decision lets BAA push on with £8bn third runway
Dan Milmo, transport correspondent
The Guardian, Friday 16 January 2009

BAA is expected to fast-track a third runway at Heathrow after the government yesterday backed expanding the airport as soon as possible after 2015. The transport secretary, Geoff Hoon, recommended that the airport owner "brought forward" a planning application for the runway after he made the surprise decision not to increase flights on the existing runways.
He said his refusal to allow more arrivals and departures on the existing site in west London made the need for a new runway all the more urgent.
Hoon brushed off concerns about the environmental impact of expanding Britain's largest airport by announcing that a third runway could be finished at the earliest in six years' time.
The £8bn development would add an estimated 350 flights a day at Heathrow, increase annual passenger numbers from 66 million to about 82 million, and put thousands more vehicles on the heavily congested roads surrounding the airport.
But Hoon told the Commons: "Doing nothing will damage our economy and will have no impact whatsoever on climate change."
However, cabinet members who oppose the third runway, led by the environment secretary Hilary Benn and energy secretary Ed Miliband, won some concessions. The government attached three green "sweeteners". The third runway would operate at half capacity when opened, raising the total number of flights from 480,000 a year to 605,000, rather than the 702,000 intended; aircraft using the new runway would meet strict greenhouse gas emissions standards; and carbon dioxide emissions from UK aviation would be limited to 2005 levels by 2050.
"This gives us the toughest climate change regime for aviation anywhere in the world," said Hoon.
He said the Civil Aviation Authority and the Environment Agency would be able to block the opening of the third runway if it threatened to breach noise and air pollution guidelines. Taking the runway to full capacity could not happen before 2020 and had to be approved by the Climate Change Committee, the independent body set up to monitor the government's sustainability record. If the committee believed the aviation industry was not making sufficient progress towards its 2050 carbon dioxide reduction target it would block the increase.
Yesterday's announcement allows BAA to push ahead with a planning application for the 2,200-metre runway, north of the existing site, and a sixth terminal for Heathrow.
However, it is understood the application will not be ready until 2011 at the earliest. A planning inquiry is expected to last two years with runway and terminal construction taking another three.
The government gave the go-ahead to the £8bn project after a consultation to determine whether it would breach guidelines on air and noise pollution and public transport access. It decided the expansion would meet this criteria, which includes EU guidelines on nitrogen oxide. The noise limits stated that the size of area exposed to 57db had to be no more than about 46 sq miles. BAA faces a planning inquiry and an expected judicial review of the decision brought by local councils.
The announcement by Hoon was accompanied by public transport measures that instantly drew criticism from green campaigners, who said they were half-baked, unfunded or already announced.
The plans include a £6bn increase in road capacity (already announced) involving use of the hard-shoulder on parts of the M1 and M6. There would also be a new company called High Speed 2, for the development of a London-to-Birmingham 200mph high-speed rail link scheme via Heathrow. Additionally, Hoon announced more studies on electrifying the Great Western and Midland Mainline rail lines.
Hoon said High Speed 2 would report on progress by the end of the year. But rail industry doubts funding can be found for such a project costing an estimated £5bn alone to run from London to Heathrow.
Environmental groups said the government had made a firm commitment on Heathrow but given lukewarm backing to the public transport concessions.
Stephen Joseph, executive director of the Campaign for Better Transport, said: "We have got a clear commitment to expand Heathrow and some vague promises to consider high-speed rail and electrification. It takes us in the wrong direction, which is away from a low-carbon economy."
The transport minister, Lord Adonis, said critics of the high-speed proposal were "completely wrong". He added: "You cannot build a £20bn railway until you have a detailed, credible and environmentally sustainable plan." However, the line could take an estimated 10 years to build and not open until after 2020.
The government also unveiled a £250m scheme for low-carbon vehicles.
The most significant concession by Hoon was the refusal to introduce a scheduling change which would have increased flights from Heathrow's existing runways by more than 100 a day.