NO 3RD RUNWAY LATEST: 

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14 October 2026

HEATHROW FAIL TO SPEND A PENNY OR GIVE HOPE FOR REGIONAL CONNECTIVITY

 

Heathrow Airport have failed to commit to fund surface access upgrades that would be required to deliver the huge expansion of the west London Airport.  On Wednesday, Parliament’s Transport Committee heard from Heathrow Airport where they failed to commit a penny to fund the required surface access upgrades, such as essential road and rail schemes, to deliver the project. 

 

In 2018, under the previous Heathrow Expansion proposal, the Airport’s then CEO committed £2bn towards funding of these schemes. The cost of the schemes was an estimated £15bn in 2018, which would now be considerably higher, taking into account inflation alone. If Heathrow Airport won’t fund the schemes, this could result in the taxpayer picking up the remainder of the bill for the necessary upgrades required to accommodate up to 80 million extra passengers per year. And yet, the Government has described Heathrow expansion as an entirely private sector project.

 

Meanwhile, Heathrow also revealed to the Transport Select Committee that several regional air links, promised by the airport in much of its promotional material for expansion (which was sent to MPs in regions around the country), would not necessarily last very long and would in fact be entirely contingent on market conditions. Routes to Leeds-Bradford Airport were promised, as well as to Teesside. Both of these previously had links to Heathrow but were ended when considered no longer viable. Dundee’s link to Heathrow ends on 23 October. The link from Newquay no longer operates from Heathrow at all, but to Stansted, instead.

 

Paul McGuinness, Chair of the No 3rd Runway Coalition, said:

 

“If the intended 79% increase in passenger numbers are going to get the gate, the government believes that £15bn will be required to upgrade transport to an expanded Heathrow. Yet, despite the government’s insistence that this will be a private sector project, Heathrow is not even willing to commit to making a contribution to this enormously expensive set of works. So who, other than the taxpayer, might be left to foot the bill?”

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8 October 2026

GOVERNMENT INTRODUCE 5TH HEATHROW TEST ON FINANCEABILITY

The Government have introduced a new affordability test for plans to expand Heathrow, with a tender which has been issued for an “experienced banking advisor” to advise on the economic case for expanding the Airport.

 

In its tender, the Department for Transport (DfT), explains that “expansion presents significant financing, affordability, delivery and regulatory challenges”. The DfT is seeking advice on the financeability and financial deliverability of Heathrow expansion, affordability, risk allocation and investor confidence, measures to improve financeability and reduce delivery risk, Government exposure to programme costs and risk, debt and equity market appetite and financing conditions, delivery structures, governance arrangements and commercial models and emerging financing, commercial and regulatory issues.

 

This new financial test is in addition to the four tests already being determined by the Department for Transport as part of its consultation earlier this summer on the draft Heathrow Expansion National Policy Statement.

 

Campaigners against the expansion have long argued that the project is a financial white-elephant.

 

Paul McGuinness, Chair of No 3rd Runway Coalition, said:

 

"Ratings agencies have long said that the massively indebted Heathrow won’t be able to raise even half the money needed for expansion, and the DfT’s own forecasts show that that if the rest is raised through passenger charges, an expanded Heathrow will be too expensive for airline customers to use. But questions must be asked about why it’s taken so long for the government to get real about this misbegotten project, which was always going to be another HS2 fiasco that the taxpayer was destined to underwrite”.

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4 October 2026

BADENOCH U-TURNS ON HEATHROW

 

Kemi Badenoch is about to deliver a U-turn on Heathrow expansion despite pledging to support Gatwick Airport’s expansion when she was previously a London Assembly member. In 2016, the then Assembly Member wrote to then Prime Minister Theresa May to back Gatwick Airport’s expansion over a third runway at Heathrow, strongly urging May that Gatwick was the “right choice” option for London’s economy and infrastructure and, crucially, the “only option that can be delivered”.

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Paul McGuinness, Chair of the No 3rd Runway Coalition said:

 

“The Department for Transport’s recent appraisals of Heathrow expansion shows it can only lead to 0.05% GDP boost over 30 years. It will displace flights and economic opportunity away from the regions and have an overall negative impact on the UK of up to minus £62bn. So how strange that Kemi Badenoch, who used to oppose Heathrow expansion, chooses to support it just as all the evidence supports her initial opposition. 

 

“London Conservatives have a long-standing opposition to a third runway, as Ms Badenoch will be aware. How she can run roughshod over such strong and valid opposition to this destructive project is unclear.

 

“Moreover, Heathrow – whose debt pile makes Thames Water look virtuous – cannot afford it. So, in as far as her commitment to this misguided project could have any effect, it will be to underwrite another HS2-style fiasco with taxpayers’ money.”

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27 September 2026

PM SIGNALS LONDON AND LONDONERS WILL DECIDE HEATHROW EXPANSION

 

The Prime Minister has said that any decision of Heathrow expansion will principally be made by taking into account the views of London and Londoners.

 

Comments made on BBC One’s Laura Kuennsberg programme on Sunday morning (27 September) highlighted that “There’s consultation on [Heathrow expansion] and it’s a contested issue, principally it’s a matter for London and Londoners.” I think it’s right that we hear what people have said through the consultation and then consider the way forward from there.”

 

Robert Barnstone from the No 3rd Runway Coalition said:

 

“It is ultimately vast swathes of Londoners that would have to put up with Heathrow expansion through more noise overhead for communities right across London as well as poorer air pollution. 

 

“The project would reverse the significant improvements in London’s air quality over the past few years, not to mention the huge detrimental impact to the public transport and road networks across west London. 

 

“The Prime Minister is therefore right that this project should be decided by those who would have to bear the brunt of its negatives.”

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15 September 2026

HEATHROW EXPANSION NOT CREDIBLE SAYS CLIMATE CHANGE COMMITTEE

 

The Climate Change Committee (CCC) has advised that there is no credible pathway for Heathrow expansion within the UK's climate commitments under current policies, in a report released today.

 

The CCC argue that the only way expansion would be possible is through reliance on technologies which are currently either underdeveloped or in their infancy.

 

The report also highlights that emissions from aviation have more than doubled since 1990, while emissions across the UK economy as a whole have halved. Heathrow Airport is currently responsible for around half of the aviation industry’s emissions.

 

Parliamentary scrutiny of the draft Heathrow Expansion National Policy Statement is currently underway. It will conclude in November with a report from the Transport Committee. The Government will decide at the end of the year whether to push plans for Heathrow expansion forward through a parliamentary vote.

 

Paul McGuinness (Chair, No 3rd Runway Coalition) said: 

 

“With the government’s own economic assessment suggesting it will lead to an aggregate loss of up to £62.5 for the UK, by 2060, and now its carbon advisers declaring that there’s no credible pathway for it within the UK’s climate commitments, Heathrow Expansion is clearly a dead horse. And what sort of government would knowingly flog those?”

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12 August 2026

BURNHAM AND HEALEY MUST NOT KIBOSH HEATHROW LEGAL CHALLENGES IF EXPANSION PROCEEDS

 

When it comes to justifying Heathrow expansion proposals, Prime Minister Andy Burnham and Chancellor John Healey must not hide behind creative policies that could limit opportunities for communities to use the law to hold the Government accountable for its decisions.

 

The No 3rd Runway Coalition and the Aviation Environment Federation, representing hundreds of thousands of people impacted by Heathrow expansion in London and beyond, have written to the Prime Minister and Chancellor to highlight serious concerns about the decision by the previous administration to create and apply “Critical National Growth Infrastructure” (CNGI) designation to the proposed Heathrow expansion project, which began under Rachel Reeves.

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Paul McGuinness, Chair of the No 3rd Runway Coalition, said:

 

“When the government’s own supporting documents fail to support Heathrow Expansion but forecast it will cause a significant net loss for the British economy, particularly across the regions, it doesn’t just seem perverse that it’s been given Critical National Growth Infrastructure status to avoid reasonable scrutiny. It seems sinister. 

 

“Can an administration led by Andy Burnham - who has long expressed doubts about the wisdom of Heathrow Expansion - really allow it to proceed? Let alone condone such a coercive approach to bulldoze it through planning?”

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10 July 2026

 

BYE RACHEL: Rachel Reeves mis-sold Heathrow expansion to the cabinet, the Parliamentary Labour Party and the Country.

 

It was Chancellor Rachel Reeves who was the driving force behind this government’s resuscitation of Heathrow Expansion; in January 2025, making it the headline in her speech on economic growth. She claimed it could deliver up to £42 billion in economic benefits and increase the UK's potential GDP by an up to 0.43% by 2050.

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Paul McGuinness (Chair, No 3rd Runway Coalition) said:

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“It seems astonishing that, rather doing the due diligence of instructing the Treasury - her own department - to conduct an impartial assessment of the economic case for Heathrow Expansion, Rachel Reeves chose to pluck panglossian figures from a report that had been commissioned ad financed by Heathrow airport to coax her government colleagues and Parliamentary Labour Party into backing Heathrow Expansion. 

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“And that even after her department’s own objective calculations had shown that Heathrow Expansion could offer no economic benefit to the UK, she continued to cite figures that are derived entirely from Heathrow’s own sales puff. It is all but clear that Rachel Reeves recklessly mis-sold Heathrow Expansion to her Cabinet and the governing party”. 

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29 June 2026

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3RD RUNWAY MENTAL HEALTH SUPPORT SERVICE TO LAUNCH AHEAD OF “HOME VISITS”

 

Heathrow Airport are to launch a mental health support service with the objective of providing residents affected by its damaging third runway proposals with additional support.

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Paul McGuinness, Chair of the No 3rd Runway Coalition, said:

 

“The launch of this service tells you all you need to know about the complexities of trying to push forward with this doomed project.

 

“Heathrow expansion is not just about building a new airport next to the existing one. Its damaging proposals have real-life impacts on so many of us in communities impacted by the proposals. The Government must urgently recognise this and halt a third runway.”

 

John McDonnell, MP for Hayes and Harlington, whose constituency covers Heathrow, said:

 

“The continuing blight that is being inflicted on our community is inevitably causing mounting stress amongst local residents leading to mental health problems. 

 

“No community should be treated so callously like this. The solution is for the government to have the courage to say once and for all that there will be no 3rd runway.” 

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19 June 2026

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HEATHROW EXPANSION TO COST INDUSTRY AND COUNTRY UP TO £62BN

 

A long-awaited consultation on Heathrow expansion, published by the Government yesterday, suggests that the Government’s policy support for Heathrow expansion, will cost passengers, airlines, airports and the economy around the UK billions of pounds over the next few decades.

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Paul McGuinness, Chair of the No 3rd Runway Coalition, said:

 

“Even on the government’s own appraisal, Heathrow expansion is a net loss to the economy, with a negative net present value ranging from minus £23.4 billion to minus £62.5 billion. That is a huge public cost for a project that would lock in environmental damage while restricting growth across the aviation sector and regional economies.  For any serious policymaker, that scale of negative economic return should be a clear warning that this is a misallocated capital project with a substantial risk profile.”

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18 June 2026

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SHAM HEATHROW CONSULTATION LAUNCHED ON CLEAN AIR DAY

 

A long-awaited consultation on Heathrow expansion was published by the Government today. The irony of this consultation being launched on Clean Air Day will not be lost on millions of people forced to breathe polluted air from an expanded Heathrow, imposing worse health on Londoners.

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Paul McGuinness, Chair of the No 3rd Runway Coalition, said:

 

“This proposal, which Heathrow’s CEO has equated to building a whole new airport next to the current Heathrow operation, is lurching towards a pig-headed, Catch 22 style farce. 

 

“It would be the world’s most expensive expansion ever, mainly because the land is already in use and its users will need to relocated before any construction can commence. And with Heathrow being unable to finance it themself the airline customers, whose passengers would pay for it, tell us it’ll be too expensive for them to ever use. 

 

“How is it possible that government has learnt so little from HS2 that it’s now committing to repetition of similar mistakes? Little wonder that ministers are keen to minimise scrutiny - with a sham consultation that will be held during the inattentive summer holiday period.”

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10 June 2026

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MAJOR GOVERNMENT NOISE STUDY CONFIRMS MORE HEALTH IMPACTS FOR HEATHROW COMMUNITIES

 

The Department for Transport and the Civil Aviation Authority have finally published two new studies exploring the health impacts of aircraft noise. 

 

The Aviation Noise Attitudes Survey study shows that exposure to aircraft noise is correlated with community annoyance. The study shows that respondents to the study are more annoyed than previously assumed. 10% of people will be highly annoyed at 43 decibels of noise – which is 10dB lower than the previous Survey of Noise Attitudes in 2014.  Annoyance also increases as exposure increases, with 30% of people reporting high levels of annoyance when experiencing 55 decibels of aircraft noise.

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Paul Beckford, Policy Director of the No 3rd Runway Coalition, said:

 

"2.2 million people are set to be impacted by aircraft noise is Heathrow is expanded. That is astronomical. Communities under Heathrow’s flight paths are being forced to bear noise they never chose, with real consequences for their health and sleep. The Government must stop prioritising misguided claims of economic growth over the wellbeing of its citizens. 

 

The evidence is clear: current noise policy is outdated and fails to reflect the true scale of harm. The cost of aviation noise must be recalculated using this latest research and applied rigorously to any proposal to expand or alter Heathrow’s airspace, in line with the balanced approach."

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8 June 2026

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HEATHROW CONSULTATION TO SNUB COMMUNITIES

 

A consultation on the Government’s plans to expand Heathrow is likely to snub the very communities most impacted by the project.

 

In an admission, the Government has stated that the consultation will be “proportionate” in its publicity arrangements, as it argues it is a review of existing policy. 

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Paul McGuinness, Chair of the No 3rd Runway Coalition, said:

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"It’s 9 years since the public were last consulted about Heathrow expansion, which the new Heathrow CEO Thomas Woldbye has likened to building a "whole a new airport”.

 

“It's simply too big and contentious for the public not to be properly consulted, particularly when most were under the impression that the plan had sensibly been ditched, long ago.

 

“Yet, contrary to the government’s own consultation guidelines, the government has set the consultation period to overlap the summer holidays season. Members of many communities are furious about this and are probably correct to assume that it’s an attempt by the government to avoid, rather than facilitate, proper scrutiny of this extremely controversial project".

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18 May 2026

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HEATHROW SECOND MOST POLLUTING AIRPORT IN THE WORLD (AND THAT’S BEFORE ANY EXPANSION)

 

Heathrow Airport has been crowned the second most polluting airport in the world according to new research by Transport and Environment (1). This is before any expansion takes place. Heathrow is already the single biggest source of CO2 in the UK, emitting 21 megatonnes annually. An expanded Heathrow is anticipated to emit an additional 9 megatonnes of CO2 every year (2). This is the equivalent of the entire aviation footprint of a country such as Portugal.

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Paul McGuinness, Chair of the No 3rd Runway Coalition, said:

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“So, in addition to being the world’s most disruptive airport in terms of noise, owing to its inappropriate location at the heart of the UK’s most densely packed residential region, it has now been established that Heathrow is the world’s second most polluting airport. 

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“And that’s even before it’s expanded under one of the current proposals to increase flight numbers by more than 50%, which would turn Heathrow – by some distance – into the world’s most polluting airport.

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“Any of the competing proposals to expand Heathrow would deliver that toxic outcome. Does the UK Government really wish to inflict that upon the nation?”

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25 March 2026

HEATHROW EXPANSION MEANS MONEY OFF HOUSE VALUE

 

Expansion at Heathrow means hundreds of thousands of people will experience a reduction in the value of their homes, according to new research (1). Research by My Flight Path indicates that areas in south east London could see homes lose up to £84,000 on a £350,000 property.

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​An expanded Heathrow means many new flight paths would have to be created to accommodate 256,000 additional flights per year using the Airport, which will be spread right across London and the Thames Valley. Areas such as the London Borough of Ealing, Hounslow, Hammersmith and Fulham and Westminster are expected to be particularly badly hit with new aircraft noise. 

 

Paul McGuinness, Chair of the No 3rd Runway Coalition, said:

 

“Global statistics show that Heathrow is already the world’s most disruptive airport, by dint of its location at the heart of the UK’s most densely populated residential region. Yet the current levels of disruption will be nothing compared to the adverse impacts that expansion will have on millions of people, as new flight paths blight previously unaffected neighbourhoods for the very first time and air traffic volumes intensify even more along existing flight paths.

 

“Heathrow expansion will mean much more noise. And – inescapably – for millions of people across Greater London and the Thames Valley – that extra noise will significantly damage their quality of life.

 

“Other governments offer serious compensation to those who are impacted by aircraft noise. If the UK government were to offer to the same to its citizens the compensation costs alone, of Heathrow Expansion, would set the government back by tens of billions of pounds.”

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18 MARCH 2026

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HEATHROW TRY TO BEGIN PURCHASING PROPERTIES FOR 3RD RUNWAY

 

Heathrow Airport have issued letters to properties within the proposed 3rd runway Compulsory Purchase Zone, which it believes it will have to acquire to build a third runway, were the project ever approved. The letters invite residents to register their interest with Heathrow’s “Home Relocation Support Service” so that the Airport can “understand how best to communicate with you in the future…as we progress our plans”.

 

However, the letters have no legal standing and are not part of the compulsory purchase order process which is not set to begin for more than two years. The letters have begun arriving of residents’ doormats this week, despite no compulsory purchase order having been granted. Many local social media sites have seen residents worried and confused as to what Heathrow’s true motives might be in sending these letters at this time, with many opting to bin the letters.

 

Paul McGuinness, Chair of the No 3rd Runway Coalition, said:

 

“Notwithstanding the broader controversies over Heathrow expansion, there is extreme anxiety in the several villages that would be wiped off the face of the earth were this project ever to get a go ahead. Heathrow have yet again shown their clumsy disregard for their neighbours with these misguided efforts to convince residents to provide information for purposes which are not part of the formal process - adding further damage to their already poor reputation for community relations. Residents should bin these letters.”

 

Eilish Stone, Harmondsworth resident who faces losing her home if a 3rd runway ever went ahead:

 

“I want to stay in my home and don’t want a 3rd runway, but I am equally sick to the back teeth of receiving disturbing letters from Heathrow. It feels a bit like harassment, which causes stress and anxiety. They are after information which is not required at this stage and are misleading residents into thinking they are about to get bought out.”

 

John McDonnell, MP for Hayes and Harlington, whose constituency includes Heathrow Airport and the villages that would be demolished to make way for a 3rd runway, said: 

 

“Heathrow Airport has again blundered in treatment of my constituents. Promoting a 3rd runway, it wrote to residents who may lose their homes raising the issue of compensation, but many have interpreted the letter as part of the compulsory purchase process. It is not. A 3rd runway is complete speculation.”

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25 FEBRUARY 2026​

HEATHROW DEBT GROWS £1BN SINCE LAST YEAR

 

Heathrow Airport is in £17.6bn of debt, leaving the airport as the most indebted piece of infrastructure in the United Kingdom, the company’s accounts for 2025, released today, show (1). This raises crucial questions as to the viability of the airport’s plans for a third runway, which they claim is the government’s “flagship infrastructure project”.

 

Paul McGuinness, Chair of the No 3rd Runway Coalition, said:

 

"So, Heathrow remains a financial husk, with every asset mortgaged to the rafters for £17.6bn of debt and operating off an unsecured overdraft, rendering it technically bankrupt. And yet the government is backing its £49bn expansion. An inordinately expensive project which would cost a fraction of the price anywhere else in the UK, and absurd when the total cost of Gatwick’s expansion is just £2.2bn. 

 

Little wonder Ratings agencies think it inconceivable that Heathrow could raise anywhere near even half the cost. And that a government which supports the project will be committing the taxpayer to bailing it out - if it’s ever to be more than an unfinished hole in the ground".

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GOVERNMENT COMMITTING ACT OF NATIONAL SELF-HARM IN BACKING HEATHROW'S RUNWAY 3 OPTION

25 November 2025

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 Paul McGuinness, Chair of the No 3rd Runway Coalition, said:

 

"The government was always going to support Heathrow’s own bid to expand the airport. The exercise of inviting rival proposals was never more than low politics. A ruse to create the impression that there might be some particular quality in Heathrow’s absurdly expensive £49bn plan – to build what will equate to the UK’s second largest airport next to the current largest, which is already hemmed in by suburbia. 

 

“The price tag for just one of its planned new super car parks is £3bn, more than the total cost of expanding Gatwick. And the demolition of several villages, the displacing of up to 15,000 residents and the decades long construction disruption which even requires tunnelling over the M25’s busiest junction will all contribute to this being the world’s most expensive airport expansion by quite some distance. 

 

“According to the credit agencies, Heathrow - which already has more debt than the value of its assets - will struggle to raise even half of the funds. The airlines have spoken out against the proposal and with Ryanair’s boss already calling the plan “HS2 all over again”, because it looks set to end up as an uncompleted hole in the ground with a pile of debt for the taxpayer to underwrite. 

 

“On behalf of the UK and its taxpayers, the government is not only being irresponsible in giving the go-ahead to this misguided project. It is committing an act of national self-harm".