Plans for third runway at Heathrow ‘will blight 47,000 additional homes with dangerous levels of air pollution’
The Daily Mail reports that a 3rd Heathrow runway would expose 47,000 additional homes to dangerous air pollution from NO2 because more vehicles will travel to the airport. The runway would cause a rise in the number of cars, coaches and lorries – raising levels of NO2, that come especially from diesel engines. The Commons Environmental Audit Committee (EAC) says the runway would rise breaching air pollution limits, and that is a key barrier to it being built. The EAC has ‘no confidence’ the Government can meet its target to fix the problem, or that 60% of all new cars would be ultra-low emissions by 2030. Figures from the Society of Motor Manufacturers and Traders show 1.29 million new diesel cars were registered last year, which was 48% of all new car purchases. EAC Chair, Mary Creagh, said there was no evidence of any “step change” in the Government’s approach that the Committee had called for in their previous report. London Mayor Sadiq Khan has proposed a £3,500 diesel scrappage scheme to pay people to replace their old diesel cars, but this may not be popular. As well as over 47,000 homes likely to be exposed to worse air pollution, due to Heathrow expansion, the air near Wraysbury Reservoir (a SSSI for birds) would also be have illegal air pollution. The Supreme Court has ordered the Government to produce a new air pollution strategy by April, after ruling that its Air Quality Plan is based on ‘optimistic emissions data’.
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Plans for third runway at Heathrow ‘will blight 47,000 additional homes with dangerous levels of air pollution’
- The increase in cars, coaches and lorries will add to toxic nitrogen oxide fumes
- A damning report says Heathrow’s expansion will risk the health of people
- The House of Commons Environmental Audit Committee claims a third runway risks breaching air pollution limits – a key barrier to it being built
- Problem is not planes but fumes pumped out by cars and trains travelling to it
A third runway at Heathrow will expose 47,000 additional homes to dangerous air pollution because more vehicles will travel to the airport, MPs have warned.
The increase in cars, coaches and lorries will add to toxic nitrogen oxide fumes, which come mainly from diesel engines and are linked to the deaths of 23,500 people in Britain every year, it is feared.
With doctors already calling for diesel vehicles to be taken off the road, a damning report says Heathrow’s expansion will risk the health of people living in an extra 47,063 homes.
The House of Commons Environmental Audit Committee claims a third runway risks breaching air pollution limits – a key barrier to it being built.
The committee now reports it has ‘no confidence’ the Government can meet its target to fix the problem, of 60 per cent of all new cars being ultra-low emissions vehicles by 2030.
Figures from the Society of Motor Manufacturers and Traders show 1.29 million new diesel cars were registered last year, 48 per cent of all car purchases.
Mary Creagh MP, chair of the environmental Audit Committee, said: ‘If the Government wants to get Heathrow expansion off the ground, it needs to show that a third runway can be built and run without exceeding legal limits on air pollution or breaching our carbon budgets.
‘We have seen little evidence of the “step change” in the Government’s approach we called for in our previous report.’
London breached its annual limit for nitrogen dioxide in just the first five days of this year, with diesel cars pumping out 10 times the tiny particles linked to asthma, heart and lung disease compared to petrol vehicles.
But Heathrow’s runway is feared to worsen the diesel crisis, with the Government admitting it may have a ‘moderate’ impact on health, increasing the risk of respiratory and cardiovascular disease.
The Transport Secretary told the environmental audit committee the problem of air quality must be tackled before the runway, given the go-ahead last year, goes ahead. It is expected to be completed by 2025.
But the committee’s Airports Commission Report Follow-Up states: ‘The Government’s reliance on low emission technology as the solution is of concern because we have no confidence that the Government will meet its target for 60 per cent of all new cars to be Ultra-Low Emissions Vehicles by 2030, as a result of our inquiry into sustainability in the Department for Transport.’
The Supreme Court has ordered the Government to produce a new air pollution strategy by April, after ruling that its Air Quality Plan is based on ‘optimistic emissions data’.
The Department for Transport insists that the runway can be delivered within emissions limits and with no extra cars on the road.
However London Mayor Sadiq Khan told MPs: ‘It is yet to be demonstrated that an expanded Heathrow could operate without exceeding legal limits for NO2.’
The environment committee is also calling for the hours of a night-time flight ban to be set, as research suggests an extra 200,000 people could be affected by significant aircraft noise.
Professor Alastair Lewis, Professor of Atmospheric Chemistry at the University of York, said: ‘Whether the areas around Heathrow will meet current air quality standards will be crucially dependent on how emissions from other sectors evolve over time, and whether predicted reductions from these can offset new pollution arising from expansion.’
He added: ‘Elevated air pollution even below limit values is now known to affect health and has a real cost.
‘The ambition should always be for development to aim for as low a concentration of pollution as is practical, not simply to do the minimum necessary to gain a pass-mark.’
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-4251280/Third-runway-Heathrow-increase-health-risk.html
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New EAC report says government has given no guarantees that air quality targets will be met with Heathrow 3rd runway
The EAC has now published a follow up report to their November 2015 report, after the oral evidence given by Chris Grayling on 30th November. It is highly critical of the government on its assurances that the runway will increase air pollution. The EAC says the government’s air quality analysis is over-optimistic. “The effectiveness of the Government’s new air quality plan will be integral to determining whether Heathrow expansion can be delivered within legal limits. We are concerned that the timing of the draft National Policy Statement consultation means the Government will be unable to carry out a comprehensive re-analysis of the air quality impacts, using the new air quality plan, before the [NPS] consultation process is complete.” … “The Government must publish such an assessment alongside the final NPS, it must work towards a scenario in which all road likes affected by expansion have predicted concentrations below the limit value. Whilst the health impact assessment is a step in the right direction, the Government must carry out work to reduce the significant health impacts identified, before construction of the third runway begins.” ….”Since the Government intends to withdraw the UK from the EU before April 2019, there is no certainty about what our legally binding air quality limits will be after 2019. We are disappointed that these limits are not clearly laid out in the Draft NPS.” And there is much more ….
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