{"id":93164,"date":"2018-06-25T08:00:03","date_gmt":"2018-06-25T08:00:03","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/mostafa.openonline.co.uk\/?guid=47b016376b03dbc30e2fdd550aecb692"},"modified":"2018-06-25T08:00:03","modified_gmt":"2018-06-25T08:00:03","slug":"news-story-five-point-pledge-on-heathrow-ahead-of-historic-vote","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/mostafa.openonline.co.uk\/?p=93164","title":{"rendered":"News story: Five point pledge on Heathrow ahead of historic vote"},"content":{"rendered":"<div class=\"govspeak\">\n<p>The Transport Secretary today (25 June 2018) described Heathrow expansion as the biggest transport decision in a generation, as he made a 5-point pledge to the country.<\/p>\n<p>Ahead of the Commons vote, Chris Grayling urged <abbr title=\"Members of Parliament\">MPs<\/abbr> to seize the opportunity of targeting vital new overseas markets for British business and creating thousands of jobs.<\/p>\n<p>And he promised any possible expansion would be governed by 5 key pledges:<\/p>\n<div class=\"call-to-action\">\n<ul>\n<li>no cost to taxpayers \u2013 the new runway scheme will be privately funded and the government will work with industry to keep airport charges down<\/li>\n<li>a massive economic boost to the country \u2013 new international routes, more than 100,000 new jobs, doubled freight capacity and benefits of up to \u00a374 billion to passengers and the wider economy<\/li>\n<li>guaranteed benefits for the whole of the <abbr title=\"United Kingdom\">UK<\/abbr> \u2013 commitment to about 15% of new slots for domestic routes, new rail links, and new global opportunities for regional business<\/li>\n<li>environmental protection built-in \u2013 expansion to be delivered within existing climate change and air quality obligations and a new ban on scheduled night flights<\/li>\n<li>cast iron legal protection on commitments \u2013 Heathrow\u2019s pledges to be legally enforceable, with punishment of unlimited fines or grounded planes if promises are broken<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/div>\n<p>Transport Secretary Chris Grayling said:<\/p>\n<blockquote>\n<p>This is a momentous vote that has been 50 years in the making and represents the biggest transport decision in a generation.<\/p>\n<p>Successive governments have wrestled with the issue of Heathrow expansion but never before has Parliament held a vote on this project.<\/p>\n<p>At stake are thousands of new jobs and the country\u2019s ability to compete on an international stage and win new global trade.<\/p>\n<p>We can be absolutely clear that this project will be privately financed and there will be no cost to taxpayers. And there will be cast iron legal protection to ensure the vital community and environmental measures are delivered.<\/p>\n<p class=\"last-child\">I hope colleagues from across the House will now put aside party and political differences to take a decision in the long-term national interest.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<p>Today\u2019s vote follows a <a href=\"https:\/\/www.gov.uk\/government\/news\/government-agrees-final-proposal-for-heathrow-expansion\">government decision<\/a> on June 5 to officially support the expansion of Heathrow through a new north-west runway \u2013 put forward in a proposed <a href=\"https:\/\/www.gov.uk\/government\/publications\/airports-national-policy-statement\">Airports National Policy Statement<\/a> (<abbr title=\"National Policy Statement\">NPS<\/abbr>).<\/p>\n<p>If approved, it will see the construction of the first full-length runway in the south-east since the Second World War.<\/p>\n<p>The <abbr title=\"National Policy Statement\">NPS<\/abbr> sets out how Heathrow expansion would provide an extra 16 million long-haul seats by 2040 \u2013 opening up new markets for British business and in-bound tourism.<\/p>\n<p>And it takes into account <a href=\"https:\/\/www.gov.uk\/government\/consultations\/heathrow-expansion-revised-draft-airports-national-policy-statement\">public and industry feedback<\/a> and <a href=\"https:\/\/www.gov.uk\/government\/publications\/government-response-to-the-transport-committee-report-on-the-revised-draft-airports-nps\">recommendations made by the Transport Committee<\/a> to ensure that airport expansion in the south-east will be delivered in a way that is cost-efficient, sustainable and in passengers\u2019 best interests.<\/p>\n<p>This includes a world-class package of <a href=\"https:\/\/www.gov.uk\/government\/publications\/heathrow-north-west-runway-and-community-compensation\">compensation and mitigation measures<\/a> to support those affected by the expansion, with up to \u00a32.6 billion for compensation, noise insulation and community amenities, which could include improvements to parks and leisure facilities.<\/p>\n<p>These are reinforced by plans for a 6.5 hour scheduled night flight ban and <a href=\"https:\/\/www.gov.uk\/government\/publications\/heathrow-north-west-runway-and-noise\">noise restrictions<\/a> which will be legally enforceable.<\/p>\n<p>To make sure the whole of the <abbr title=\"United Kingdom\">UK<\/abbr> benefits, the government has committed to about 15% of slots for <a href=\"https:\/\/www.gov.uk\/government\/publications\/heathrow-north-west-runway-and-domestic-connectivity\">domestic routes<\/a>. While many of these will be delivered commercially, government has for the first time set out that it would use <a href=\"https:\/\/www.gov.uk\/government\/news\/government-to-protect-regional-routes-to-heathrow\">public service obligations to ensure existing and new routes are safeguarded<\/a>. This includes the potential for slots to be ring-fenced and exempt from air passenger duty, which can save passengers \u00a326 on the cost of a return domestic ticket.<\/p>\n<p>The government is confident that the scheme can be delivered within our obligations under the <a rel=\"external\" href=\"http:\/\/www.legislation.gov.uk\/ukpga\/2008\/27\/contents\">Climate Change Act<\/a>, and <a href=\"https:\/\/www.gov.uk\/government\/publications\/heathrow-north-west-runway-and-the-planning-act\">development consent<\/a> would only be granted on the basis that the new runway is delivered within existing <a href=\"https:\/\/www.gov.uk\/government\/publications\/heathrow-north-west-runway-and-air-quality\">air quality obligations<\/a>.<\/p>\n<div class=\"contact \" id=\"contact_1015\">\n<div class=\"content\">\n<h3>Aviation and maritime media enquiries<\/h3>\n<div class=\"vcard contact-inner\">\n<div class=\"email-url-number\">\n<p class=\"tel\">\n              <span class=\"type\">Media enquiries<\/span><br \/>\n              020 7944 3021\n            <\/p>\n<p class=\"tel\">\n              <span class=\"type\">Out of hours media enquiries<\/span><br \/>\n              020 7944 4292\n            <\/p>\n<p class=\"tel\">\n              <span class=\"type\">Switchboard<\/span><br \/>\n              0300 330 3000\n            <\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Parliament\u2019s vote on Heathrow expansion will be the biggest transport decision in a generation.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":8,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[13],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/mostafa.openonline.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/93164"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/mostafa.openonline.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/mostafa.openonline.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mostafa.openonline.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/8"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mostafa.openonline.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=93164"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/mostafa.openonline.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/93164\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/mostafa.openonline.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=93164"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mostafa.openonline.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=93164"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mostafa.openonline.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=93164"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}