Transport Desk

Ruth Kelly the government's Transport Secretary has announced that the decision to expand Heathrow airport to build a third runway will now take place before the end of 2008.

The BBC stated that Ms Kelly was considering the various options and "and there was still work to be done in assessing the views of 70,000 individuals and organisations consulted on the expansion."

Both political parties in the UK have been split on the issue of Heathrow expansion given the appeals made by the business community to support BAA's plans to expand and handle greater capacity. 

Recently David Cameron the leader of the Conservative Party has opposed Heathrow expansion by stating in the  “The most important priority for Heathrow is making it better, not bigger.” The “fiasco” at Terminal 5 meant there “must be severe doubt” over the ability of the government and BAA, Heathrow’s owner, to manage the expansion, Mr Cameron said.

Cameron has rejected the plans to expand Heathrow and not supporting the business community main argument that if Heathrow does not expand it will ultimately damage the competitiveness of UK Plc.

“There are now increasing grounds to believe that the economic case is flawed, even without addressing the serious environmental concerns,” Mr Cameron stated.

The British Chamber of Commerce was particularly vocal in its opposition to the Conservative stance on Heathrow with David Frost speaking to the FT “If we don’t continue to expand [airport capacity] to meet rising demand, we’re going to lose out as UK plc,”.