Airports Commission
[1] Alongside the proposal to build HS2, the question of how to make best use of and expand airport capacity had become the UK's most significant infrastructure issue over the preceding few years.
However the question of how to expand the capacity of the system to cope with growing air travel demand is an issue that successive governments have failed to address since the 1950s.
A member of the commission, Colin Buchanan, wrote a dissenting report and recommended that an airport should be developed at Foulness (later known as Maplin Sands).
In 1978 the Traffic Distribution Rules were introduced to try to encourage British Airways (BA) to make greater use of Gatwick Airport as a second hub.
Heathrow has been unable to expand to meet the rapid growth in demand for air travel and in particular from transfer passengers on which hub airports depend.
This inability to expand has been due to a combination of: These factors result in significant noise and air quality impacts for local residents and pose a major safety risk.
[9] The government hoped that by establishing an independent commission it would be able to secure cross-party political consensus over the issue of how to expand London's airports.
[16][17] The Commission published a sixth discussion paper calling for evidence on the Utilisation of the UK's Existing Airport Capacity in June 2014.
The Commission has also undertaken a programme of visits to UK and international airports, to the Isle of Grain and to the Heathrow and Gatwick areas to meet local political representation and residents groups.
[23] Their main findings to date were that additional runway capacity would be needed in the longer term and that it should be provided within the South East of England.
[25] A transcript of the stakeholder briefing on the Interim Report held at the Institute of Civil Engineers on the morning of publication and chaired by Sir Howard was later published alongside the other documents.
The report sets out the Commission's assessment of the UK's future aviation capacity need and concluded that one net new additional runway would be required in London and south east England by 2030.
[30] On 2 April 2014, after consultation, the Commission published its Appraisal Framework[31] for assessing the three options for additional capacity shortlisted in the Interim Report.
Labour's Shadow Transport Secretary Mary Creagh told the Financial Times that the party "is reserving the right to reject the recommendations of the Davies review of aviation.
Many people have questioned this date because, without the commission's Final Report, the political parties contesting the election will be unable to state their policies to the electorate about the proposed expansion of airports in the South East of England.
In a House of Commons debate on the Transport Select Committee's Aviation Strategy report[35] on 24 October 2013, John McDonnell the Labour Member of Parliament for Hayes and Harlington – an area adjacent to the airport – called the Commission's timetable undemocratic and asked for the date of its Final Report to be brought forward to a date before the election.
[38][39] Muirhead resigned because although he had stepped down as CEO of MAG in 2010, he remained in an ambassadorial role (and paid £75,000 per year) at the company until January 2013 – two months after he had been appointed as a member of the commission.
In a statement the Airports Commission said it "firmly rejects the claims made by Stop Stansted Expansion, and considers its processes to date to have been appropriate and robust.
[42] While the Judge found that it was not wise for Muirhead to have remained as a Commissioner while still working for MAG, she said that there was no real possibility of apparent bias in the sift criteria.
In response, SSE said that the legal action had achieved its main objective of removing Muirhead from the Commission and that it would consider whether to appeal the decision.
