Conservatives promise to scrap Heathrow expansion and back new rail

An incoming Conservative government would cancel all plans to expand Heathrow airport and build a third runway, shadow transport secretary Theresa Villiers MP told the party conference at its meeting in Birmingham.

Instead of a bigger airport the Conservatives have announced proposals to hold a competition to build a new high-speed rail network linking London and Heathrow with Birmingham, Manchester and Leeds. The Party believes the project could be under construction by 2015.
 
Villiers told delegates: "We have to find a way to cut carbon emissions from transport and generating hundreds of thousands of extra flights at Heathrow is not the way to do it.

"A new high-speed link between North and South would bring massive benefits for rail commuters – opening up existing lines for new services. It will also generate huge benefits for business and the economy, help close the North-South divide giving a real boost to the North, and provide a genuinely green alternative to sitting in a traffic jam," she said.

Villiers added: "Linking Heathrow with St Pancras and a high-speed rail link to the North could provide an alternative to thousands of short-haul flights now clogging up the airport. So our proposals can provide a real answer to overcrowding at Heathrow without the environmental damage and noise pollution that a third runway would cause."

The Conservatives have promised to part-fund the rail project with an annual contribution of £1.3bn a year between 2015-27 from the expected capital spend on rail.

The money would be used as a fixed payment towards land and track, the Conservatives said, with the private sector meeting all construction and operating risks. The project would require primary legislation in the shape of a hybrid bill.

As well as new rail links to the Midlands and the North, the Conservatives confirmed they would back a scheme along the lines of an innovative proposal put forward by engineering company Arup to link Heathrow into the main rail network and the high-speed link from St Pancras.

Roger Milne

2 October 2008