Gov't told to do more to tackle impact of expanded Heathrow

The government needs to show a third runway can be built at London's Heathrow Airport without exceeding legal limits on air pollution, a committee of members of the Parliament (MPs) said Thursday.

The environmental impact of a third runway at Britain's busiest airport was one of the grounds used by campaigners in their fight against the multi-billion dollar expansion.

A reported published Thursday by the House of Commons cross-party Environmental Audit Committee says the government is not doing enough to demonstrate it can mitigate the environmental impacts of the planned new runway at Heathrow.

MP Mary Creagh, who chairs the committee, said: "If the government wants to get Heathrow expansion off the ground it needs to show that a third runway can be built and run without exceeding legal limits on air pollution or breaching our carbon budgets.

"Mitigating the air quality, carbon and noise impacts of a new runway cannot be an afterthought. Ministers must work harder to show that Heathrow expansion can be done within the UK's legally binding environmental commitments," she added.

Referring to air quality, the report from the cross-party committee of MPs, says Britain has already breached EU NO2 limits in London for 2017.

"The committee is concerned that the government has given no guarantees that air quality targets will be maintained after Britain leaves the EU. The promise not to increase road traffic at Heathrow needs to be rigorously monitored, with clear accountability and consequences for failure," the report reads.

MPs are also concerned that the government is relying on people switching to cleaner cars to reduce air pollution but have no confidence the government will meet their targets for uptake.

The report calls on the government to implement an alert system for people who are especially vulnerable to short-term exposure to air pollution in London. Endit