Miliband policy adviser backs Heathrow expansion

The previous Labour government made a major mistake in waiting until 2009 to give its backing to a third runway at Heathrow, one of Ed Miliband’s closest policy advisers has said.

Speaking at the British Council for Offices’ annual conference in Madrid, Labour peer and former trasnport secretary Lord Adonis, said the “only credible option” for expanding airport capacity in the South-east was expanding Heathrow, and that Labour had “ducked the decision” until 2009, by which time it was too late.

However, Adonis, who is one of Labour leader Ed Miliband’s closest policy advisers, said that increased hub capacity in the South-east remains “the single most important transport decision” facing the country and berated the coalition government for again kicking the issue into the long grass with the establishment of the Davies Commission.

The commission, chaired by economist Sir Howard Davies, was set up last year and tasked with investigating options for airport expansion in the South-east. It is not due to report until after the 2015 general election.

Adonis said: “It doesn’t take four years to decide what to do about airport capacity. It could be done in four weeks.”

He added: “The only credible option is to expand Heathrow.”

Adonis argued that building a new airport in the Thames Estuary, as promoted by London mayor Boris Johnson, would necessitate the closing of Heathrow.

He said that it doubtful that all the airlines that currently fly out of Heathrow would be willing to make the move east and that they might instead relocate abroad.

Professor David Begg, the director of the Campaign for High Speed Rail, added that 100,000 people depend on Heathrow for their livelihoods and that the closure of the airport would double the unemployment rate in west London boroughs.

He claimed that 246 of the 300 biggest companies in the UK are currently located in west London or the Thames Valley, primarily due to the proximity to Heathrow.