Heathrow air quality 'key to expansion decision'

The Airports Commission has recommended expanding Heathrow

Air quality will be a "major consideration" when a government decision is made on airport expansion, the transport secretary has said.

Patrick McLoughlin said ministers were examining work by manufacturers to reduce aircraft emissions and would also look at the economic impact of the decision.

The Airports Commission has recommended expanding Heathrow and not Gatwick.

Prime Minister David Cameron is due to announce a decision by the end of 2015.

Gatwick Airport's chief executive Stewart Wingate said: "Heathrow's poor air quality already breaches legal limits and it is difficult to see how expansion could legally go ahead."

He said an expanded Heathrow would generate millions of extra car journeys.

But a Heathrow spokesman said: "The government's Airports Commission confirmed a third runway at Heathrow can go ahead without breaching air quality legal limits, as long as we continue to implement our mitigation plans."

Heathrow has committed to having no extra airport-related road traffic after expansion by improving rail links, extending the London Low Emission Zone, and replacing local diesel buses with cleaner vehicles.

Sir Howard Davies, Airports Commission chairman, wrote to Mr McLoughlin last month and said appropriate measures could be taken to address air quality at an expanded Heathrow.

He claimed limited weight should be placed on the suggestion that the issue represented a significant obstacle.

Mr McLoughlin said ministers were looking at what companies such as Rolls Royce, who were at the leading edge of improving aircraft emissions, were doing.

He also said ministers had to make sure the UK overall was not put at an economic disadvantage.