Today's entry reports on latest developments on the proposed
Airports National Policy Statement.
Background
A year ago today, the Government announced that it endorsed the
Airports Commission's recommended new runway option of a third,
north-western, runway at Heathrow Airport.
Then, on 2 February this year, a draft Airports National Policy
Statement (NPS) was published for consultation. The consultation
ran until May, and the consultation document said that updated
passenger forecasts would be provided before the end of the
consultation so that they could be taken into account in responses.
The election intervened and the forecasts were not published in
time. Then, thanks to a mandate from the High Court, in July the
Government published a revised Air Quality Plan to deal with
excessive levels of nitrogen dioxide more firmly than before.
