Third Heathrow Runway expected to get Chancellor backing

The Chancellor is set to announce a wave of measures to bring growth to the country.

Plans for a third runway at Heathrow Airport have been controversial for years.
Author: Claire BoadPublished 29th Jan 2025

Plans to expand Heathrow by building a third runway are expected to be backed by the Chancellor.

Rachael Reeves will outline plans in Oxfordshire later today with the hope they will boost growth across the UK.

The expansion at Heathrow Airport to give it a third runway would allow thousands more flights to come into the airport each year, boosting millions in revenue.

The construction of the runway would also help to create jobs in the area.

However, the plans to build a third runway are contentious. Labour Mayor of London Sadiq Khan said he was against the expansion during his third campaign for Mayor.

A spokesperson for the Mayor said "the Mayor has a long-standing opposition to airport expansion around London – linked to the negative impact on air quality, noise and London’s ability to reach net-zero by 2030".

Local campaign groups have also fought this change for years. Previous plans for a northern runway would have seen the knocking down of hundreds of homes, wiping whole villages off the map.

Chair of the No 3rd Runway Coalition Paul McGuiness told us the plans for the airport are not practical.

"What they plan to do is tunnel over the M25 over its busiest junction to increase the size of Heathrow by an area that is larger than Birmingham International Airport.

"The proposal really is to build Britain's second largest airport next to its largest, which is the current Heathrow operation.

"It is already statistically the most disruptive airport in the world due to its location. Its bang slap in the middle of the most densely packed residential region in the country".

The Chancellor is set to make her announcement at 10am.

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