On 24 October 17 the Government published a new draft Airports National Policy Statement, with updates on air quality and demand forecasts. The Statement admits that expansion at Gatwick would have greater economic benefit and less damage to health and environment, but the Government still prefers to expand Heathrow. Consultation on the NPS lasts until 19 December and you can find the document by googling ‘draft Airports NPS’. Send comments to RunwayConsultation@dft.gsi.gov.uk or by post to Freepost RUNWAY CONSULTATION.
The final version of the NPS will be published in mid 2018 and will face a legal challenge on air pollution from the coalition of local authorities (not including Spelthorne) surrounding Heathrow. After that the third runway becomes official policy if and when Parliament votes for it, which is not so certain in the present political climate.
Separately, changes to flight paths are being made all over the world. New technology allows flight paths to be much more precise, so narrower corridors of land are overflown. HACAN and other environmental groups say the new flight paths should be varied regularly to give people more respite from noise.
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