Members of both Houses of Parliament met on Tuesday June 10th in the House of Commons to formally establish a new All Party Parliamentary Group (APPG) for Heathrow and the Wider Economy.
The cross party group was set up by Richmond Park and North Kingston MP, Zac Goldsmith, who was nominated as the Chairman. Former Richmond Park MP Baroness Tonge was elected as the Treasurer, Labour’s John McDonnell as the Secretary and Conservative John Randall and Lib Dem Peer Baroness Hamwee as Vice-Chairs.
The APPG will exist to scrutinise the arguments around Heathrow expansion, and will publicly report on the findings. The first Inquiry will be held next month and will focus on the likely new flightpaths, and the noise impact on residents.
Heathrow Airport have stated that as many as 30 per cent fewer people would be affected by air traffic noise with a third runway in 2030 than are currently affected by air traffic noise from the two existing runways. However, a recent report by the CAA/ERCD shows that Heathrow’s proposal will expose more than 1.1 million people (when placed upon 2012 population data, which will grow) to noise in excess of 55dB Lden, when fully utilised, compared to 725,000 people today.
The group will examine the claims and assess the real impact of a possible expansion of Heathrow on residents.
Commenting, Zac Goldsmith said ‘This new group is truly cross-Party, and will be able to use the platform of Parliament to really drill into some of the claims made around Heathrow expansion. We look forward to inviting a wide ranger of experts to the coming Inquiry.”
Notes to the Editor
Members of the All Party Parliamentary Group on Heathrow and the Wider Economy:
- Zac Goldsmith MP – Chair
- John Randall MP – Vice Chair
- Baroness Hamwee – Vice Chair
- Jenny Tonge – Treasurer
- John McDonnell MP – Secretary
- Mary McLeod MP
- Bob Blackman MP
- Malcolm Rifkind MP
- Lord Chris Holmes
- Lord True
- Angie Bray MP
- John Cryer MP
- Virendra Sharma MP
- Andy Slaughter MP
- Seema Malhotra MP
- Lord Faulkner
- Joan Walley MP
- Kate Hoey MP
- Baroness Jenny Jones
- Caroline Lucas MP
On June 11th, 2014, posted in: Heathrow Expansion, Press Release by Zac Goldsmith