Airport expansion: What happens next?
Decision day is here and the government is set to announce its decision on airport expansion in the coming hours, but what happens after that?
There have been concerns that more delays are on the cards after Theresa May said the final vote on the government’s preferred option won’t be until the end of 2017/18, but a Heathrow spokesman has said this was always the “expected and appropriate political process”.
Read more: The government will announce its decision on Heathrow vs. Gatwick today
And depending on what decision the government announces, the outlook may vary, but the following will need to happen either way:
A national policy statement (NPS)
The government will launch a limited public consultation on the local impacts of its choice and then publish a national policy statement on aviation next year. If the draft NPS identifies one or more locations as potentially suitable for development, then public consultation must also be carried out at those locations.
That will then be ratified by parliamentary vote in winter 2017/18. The consultation on the draft NPS will be the only formal opportunity for MPS to have a say on something which would directly affect any proposed airport expansion.
“Previous NPSs for other infrastructure consented as Nationally Significant Infrastructure Projects (NSIPs) have taken about a year to get from publication in draft through consultation and Parliamentary approval to designation,” said Kevin Gibbs, planning partner at Bond Dickinson. “We can therefore expect that a draft airports NPS will be published soon, perhaps today.”
Winning airport draws up development consent order (DCO)
The airport chosen by the government draws up a development consent order (DCO), including health and environmental impact assessments. The process will likely see airports submit applications for planning permission in 2019. Inspectors then recommend it to the secretary of state for communities for final approval.
“Once the various stages of consultation, consideration and planning are taken into account it could be 2020 before a minister is faced with giving a scheme final approval,” Gibbs said.
What if it’s Heathrow and Gatwick?
If there were a hybrid decision floated by the government, encompassing both Gatwick and Heathrow, the procedure for a DCO would be the same, but there would be two applications (one for each airport). “Gatwick, it seems, may attract less hostility and with probably fewer properties to compulsorily acquire, may be consented in a shorter timeframe,” said Gibbs.
Read more: Grayling to signal appetite for new runways at regional airports this week
Four years until spades are in the ground
Heathrow has factored in the time for legal challenges in its planning – anticipating they would run alongside the other processes – and expects the timescale to be four years from the decision being made by the government, to the actual construction work commencing.
Both Heathrow and Gatwick have said a new runway could be built by 2025, while the latter is adamant it will be able to deliver quicker than its rival.