Victoria Collins MP responds to Chancellor’s support for airport expansion

Reacting to the Chancellor’s speech today (29 January) which expressed the government’s support for the construction of a third runway at Heathrow Airport, and confirmed that the Transport Secretary would soon be making an announcement on Luton Airport expansion, Victoria Collins, MP for Harpenden & Berkhamsted, said:

“The Chancellor’s support for expanding Heathrow airport shows an endorsement for airport expansion that’ll be deeply worrying for our local communities fighting tooth and nail against the expansion of Luton Airport.

“Her speech was a stark indicator that the government are willing to disregard communities’ concerns and tackling the climate crisis, in an attempt to boost economic growth which economists have already warned won’t be fruitful.

“I’ve repeatedly made clear to the government that expanding Luton airport would be highly damaging for the quality of life of local residents - it’ll worsen noise pollution and strain on infrastructure. And it would violate the government’s own advisors, the Climate Change Committee’s recommendations that a framework for controlling emissions must be in place before any airport expansion takes place.

“I’ll therefore keep urging the government to oppose the expansion of Luton airport, or at the very least to heed the advice of experts and introduce this framework before doing so, for the good of our climate and local communities.”