Heathrow recommended for new runway

Members of Parliament from the south given their reaction to a report recommending Heathrow is given the go-ahead to expand.

The findings were published by the Airport Commission which took three years to reach its conclusion which looked at the best way to increase the country's airport capacity.

Reaction below from: Phillip Lee (Bracknell), Adam Afriyie (Windsor), Boris Johnson (Mayor of London), Harriet Harman (acting Labour leader), Caroline Lucas (Brighton Pavilion), Nick Herbert (Arundel and South Downs), Henry Smith (Crawley), Carwyn Cox (Windsor and Maidenhead Council), Ranil Jayawardena (North East Hampshire) and Patrick Mcloughlin (Transport Secretary).

Members of Parliament from the south east have expressed their reaction to a report saying a third runway at Heathrow is the best option to increase the country's airport capacity.

The findings were published by the Airport Commission which took three years to reach its conclusion.

Reaction from: Henry Smith (Crawley), Jeremy Quinn (Horsham), Tom Tugendhat (Tonbridge and Malling), Caroline Ansell (Eastbourne), Nus Ghani (Wealden), Adam Afriyie (Windsor) and Kelly Tolhurst (Rochester and Strood)

The Mayor of London, Boris Johnson, said today that a new runway for Heathrow would mean a massive increase in noise pollution and fumes.

David Cameron announced a short time ago that a decision on a new runway for the region would be made by the end of the year. The recommended option, announced today, is Heathrow.

Residents around Heathrow are furious over today's announcement that the airport is the preferred option for a new runway. Interviewees: Helen Hansen-Hjul and Murray Barter.

Members of the Gatwick Area Conservation Campaign have been celebrating after today's announcement. Heathrow is the preferred option for a new runway. The interviewee is Sally Pavey.

Adam Afriyie, the MP for Windsor, says he will fight the Heathrow runway plan 'tooth and nail'.

Former Concorde pilot Jock Lowe was behind the second Heathrow scheme to extend one of the runways. He has mixed feelings about today's recommendation.

Any hopes that the Davies Report would resolve the airports issue once and for all were dashed within minutes of it being published.

Boris Johnson led the attack - saying an extra runway at Heathrow is undeliverable, will never happen, and is the sort of scheme you'd have got in 1950s Communist China.

Would-be Mayor of London Zac Goldsmith says Davies had made up his mind on Heathrow before the process began. Davies has accused him of "lying".

How much easier, politically, it would have been for the Government if Davies had agreed with those adverts saying it obviously had to be Gatwick. Some MPs in Sussex, Surrey and Kent would have been outraged, but Mr Cameron could have lived with that.

The political opposition to Heathrow will be on a dramatically different scale. It could lead to a Tory revolt at Westminster, at least one parliamentary by-election and it could dominate next year's Mayoral election in London: some people want to turn that into a referendum on Heathrow.

The history of big infrastructure projects in the country is one of almost endless delays and indecision. It looks like this one will be no different.