Expansion of Heathrow Airport

Although the expansion was cancelled on 12 May 2010 by the new coalition government,[5] the Airport Commission published its various-options comparative study "Final Report" on 1 July 2015 which preferred the plan.

[7] On 16 December 2020, the UK Supreme Court lifted the ban on the third runway, allowing a planning application via a Development Consent Order to go ahead.

[10] In January 2025, Chancellor of the Exchequer Rachel Reeves confirmed it was the new Labour government's plan to proceed with a third runway within the current parliamentary term.

In January 2009, more detailed plans for a third runway were government backed subject to funding, legal and parliamentary approval, together with a terminal which would include a Heathrow Hub railway station to provide the first extra-London rail link using the Great Western Main Line, perhaps at the global definition of "high speed", involving the national High Speed 2 new railway project.

[22] On 29 January 2025, after the plans for the third runway were shelved - mainly due to the pandemic, the government backed the expansion and promised to try and cut the red tape that delayed the approval process previously.

The commission was chaired by Howard Davies who, at the time of his appointment was in the employ of GIC Private Limited and a member of its International Advisory Board.

This shortlisted three options: The full report was published on 1 June 2015; this confirmed the north-west runway and a new sixth terminal as the commission's chosen proposal.

As the UK's major hub airport, Heathrow can attract many transfer passengers, and so can support a very wide range of direct flight destinations at high frequencies.

[13] The government claims that Heathrow's connectivity helps London (and nearby counties) especially compete with other European cities for business investment, which in turn produces economic benefits for the rest of the UK.

Several cities have seen their connections to Heathrow reduced or lost over recent years as airlines have reallocated the airport's limited capacity to more profitable long-haul flights.

The particular members of that government most closely associated with that drive were the prime minister Gordon Brown and past Transport Secretaries Alistair Darling, Ruth Kelly, Geoff Hoon and Andrew Adonis.

[40] In 2009 Greenpeace acquired and published a detailed confidential report into the group activities and plans[41] which claimed that The Department for Transport was independently approaching Flying Matters for support on key issues on the Climate change bill.

[43] The objectives outlined in the leaked 'draft Strategy and programme for 2009–10' later confirmed that the organisation felt that it was "Essential to help establish a foundation from which the Conservatives could amend their position post election".

[45][46] He was succeeded at BAA by Tom Kelly who took the title 'group director of corporate and public affairs' and had been official spokesman for Tony Blair when he was prime minister.

[54] However, the British Chambers of Commerce released a report stating the economic benefits as £30 billion over the same time scale, considerably more than the carbon cost of the expansion.

[56] Some 700 homes, a church and eight Grade II-listed buildings would have to be demolished or abandoned, the high street in Harmondsworth split, a graveyard "bulldozed" and the "entire village of Sipson could disappear".

[57] John McDonnell, MP for Hayes and Harlington, suggested in 2007 that up to 4,000 houses would actually have to be demolished or abandoned, but aviation minister Jim Fitzpatrick defended the plans, saying anyone evicted from their home as a result of expansion would be fully compensated.

[58] BAA has committed to preserving the Grade I-listed parish church and Great Barn at Harmondsworth, and has given assurances that the value of properties affected by a possible third runway will be protected.

[citation needed] Building a third runway at Heathrow would expose hundreds of thousands of residents in London and Berkshire to sustained high levels of aircraft noise for the first time.

[78][79] The injunction would technically have included the Queen; patron of the RSPB and CPRE, Prince Charles; in his position as President of the National Trust, and even some of BAA's own staff.

Airport operator, BAA, who have often been a target of Plane Stupid's campaign, confirmed to The Times that they had been in contact with C2i International but denied ever hiring the company.

[86] In January 2009, Greenpeace and partners (including actress Emma Thompson and impressionist Alistair McGowan) bought a piece of land on the site of the proposed third runway called Airplot.

Although this action is similar to the tactics first employed in the early 1980s by FoE with the 'Alice's Meadow' campaign; it differs in that it relies on the concept of multiple beneficial ownership rather than the division of the field into microplots.

[45] Also in March 2009, Plane Stupid protester Leila Deen threw green custard over Business Secretary Lord Mandelson at a low carbon summit hosted by Gordon Brown, in protest at the frequent meetings between Roland Rudd, who represents airport operator BAA, and Mandelson and other ministers in the run-up to Labour's decision to go ahead with plans for a third runway at Heathrow.

[94] Following the announcement, Gordon Brown, the prime minister, said it was the right decision, that it was "vital not just to our national economy, but enables millions of citizens to keep in touch with their friends and families" and that the judgement would not change its plans.

[95] On 6 August 2018, lawyers for Friends of the Earth filed papers at the High Court asking for the Airports National Policy Statement (NPS) to be quashed.

Friends of the Earth argues that the Airports NPS constitutes a breach of the UK's climate change policy and its sustainable development duties.

[112] In November 2008, the Mayor of London, Boris Johnson, announced a feasibility study into building an airport on an artificial island off the Isle of Sheppey.

[113] Critics pointed variously to the construction costs,[28] threat to jobs at Heathrow,[114] and opponents in green ideology as with all expansion cite increased CO2 emissions if more flights are scheduled than at present.