Row over MPs' claim air quality work needless and no reason to delay airports decision

MPs on the House of Commons' transport select committee have questioned why the Government further delayed its decision on airports expansion on the basis that further work was needed on air quality impacts.

The detailed recommendations of the committee, which yesterday attacked ministers for "dithering," suggest that the additional work announced in December before any decision was made on where a new runway would be built was needless. "We are not convinced that this work must be done before the Government can take a decision on location." The transport secretary Patrick McLoughlin told the committee in February that the DfT was testing the Airports Commission's work on air quality in the wake of the Volkswagen emissions-fixing scandal, as well as "carrying out extra assurance," on the economic cases and "due diligence" on the airports' plans for surface access.

But the MPs said that the Commission had used real emissions, not test emissions data, and that the so-called 'defeat devices' used by Volkswagen had not changed the level of nitrous oxides, "undermining the scandal as a reason for doing more work" after the scandal placed a question mark over the Government's air quality strategy. Furthermore, whilst the MPs say that a package of mitigation measures needs to be carefully considered, "a decision on location would give more focus to this work... real progress cannot be made without a decision on location".

But campaigning lawyers ClientEarth criticised the suggestion that work on environmental issues can run in parallel with other pre-construction work. ClientEarth chief executive James Thornton said: "For once, we are in agreement with the DfT. Air pollution must be dealt with before any decision is made to go ahead. Greater London already has illegal levels of air pollution, which the Supreme Court has ordered the Government to bring within legal limits as soon as possible."