Lord Berkeley/Baroness Sugg

Lord Berkeley/Baroness Sugg

Lord Berkeley: To ask Her Majesty's Government what estimate they have made of the impact of the proposal from Heathrow Airport Limited for early lifting of the Air Traffic Movement cap by 25,000 per year on (1) demand for rail services, (2) road congestion, and (3) air quality. [HL14181]

Baroness Sugg: No assessment has been made. An early lifting of the Air Traffic Movement cap at Heathrow is not Government policy. Any proposal for the early lifting of the Air Traffic Movement cap would be subject to the planning process and would need to form part of an applicant’s development consent application. As part of this process, the Planning Inspector would need to see that there was a proper assessment of the impacts, including a full environmental assessment, and that appropriate mitigations were in place to limit any anticipated impacts.