Third runway at Heathrow Airport would drive growth, Healey says
It comes after the prime minister refused to say whether he backed expansion.
Third runway at Heathrow Airport would drive growth, Healey says
Chancellor John Healey has said that constructing a third runway at Heathrow Airport has "always been a case for growth" after Prime Minister Andy Burnham declined to say whether he supported the expansion.
Speaking at the International Monetary Fund (IMF) in Bangkok, Healey said airport expansion, including at Heathrow, had been "a big part of jobs and growth" over recent decades.
His remarks followed a more cautious stance from Prime Minister Andy Burnham, who told the BBC last month that it was "a matter for London and Londoners".
Healey's predecessor Rachel Reeves had made the airport's expansion central to the argument that Britain was open for business.
Earlier this week, Heathrow chief executive Thomas Woldbye warned that failing to build a third runway at the UK's busiest airport would be a "huge missed opportunity".
Healey told reporters: "The case for a third runway at Heathrow has always been a case for growth."
He added: "The formal position now is that the consultation is closed, led by the Transport Department.
"We're reviewing those, and then further decisions and announcements will follow."
The third runway has been discussed for decades, with the plan facing resistance from residents, politicians and climate campaigners.
Last year, Reeves announced the government-backed expansion, saying "a third runway is badly needed", and that the government could not "duck the decision any longer".
When asked about the project in September, Burnham suggested it should be decided by London.
"I think we ought to hear the voice of people there first. It's not right for me to just jump straight in on the back of the consultation," he added.
The Department for Transport has said it is "considering the appropriate next steps" after the public consultation on its National Policy Statement, which sets the framework for deciding whether to approve a new runway at Heathrow.
The airport's consortium of owners has said it needs explicit support from Burnham before the end of the year to move ahead with the project.
Speaking to BBC Radio 4's Today programme earlier this week, Woldbye said it would be "good to know" the government's position on the project.
He said he hoped the prime minister would "come along" with the project, adding that a third runway was "not just for Londoners".
"Benefits will be felt all over the country because our supply chain reaches all the way from the north all the way to the south of the UK," Woldbye said.
Heathrow handles more than 80 million travellers a year through its four passenger terminals and two runways. The number of flights, currently limited to 480,000 a year, could rise to 720,000 - or nearly 2,000 a day on average, if a third runway is built.
The project, with an estimated cost of £33bn, would involve demolishing hundreds of homes, diverting rivers and rerouting the M25 motorway through a tunnel between junctions 14 and 15.
The new runway had been due to open by 2035, subject to plans being submitted and approved, but Heathrow has since said it could be delayed by four years to 2039 because of planning and regulatory issues.