Heathrow’s already started spending on its third runway
The government's backing of Heathrow airport expansion has triggered £50m of supply chain investment.
Suffice to say the airport was ready and raring to go ahead of the government's decision to green light its expansion last week. Heathrow said the government's backing meant that £50m will be invested before the end of next year, creating 2,700 new British jobs.
Of the airport's procurement spending, 95 per cent will be with the British supply chain and 60 per cent of that outside London. Contracts worth £460m will be issued before construction begins 2021.
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Heathrow chief executive John Holland-Kaye said:
This weekend Heathrow started the process of pumping hundreds of millions of pounds into the British supply chain to build an airport that is fair, affordable and secures the benefits of expansion for the whole of the UK.
Over the coming years, I look forward to working with our new partners to create thousands of decent jobs across the UK as together we deliver Britain's new runway.
This comes as union and business leaders pledged their support for the expansion through the entire planning process (and through to delivery).
Those who voiced their support included Terry Scuoler, the chief executive of manufacturers' organisation EEF, Oliver Richardson of Unite and Adam Marshall, the director general of the British Chambers of Commerce (BCC). They said in a statement:
The government has set out a clear process to deliver an expanded Heathrow. What matters now is that we all work with government to deliver expansion which is fair and affordable, while delivering for all of Britain.
That’s why, today, we are pledging our commitment to work with Government to develop those plans and ensure Britain begins to reap the benefits of expansion before the end of the decade.
The airport says it has factored legal challenges into its planning, and within days of the government announcement, residents' organisation Teddington Action Group (TAG) said it was alleging "apparent bias" against Sir Howard Davies, chair of the Airports Commission.
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The group has sent a pre-action "letter of claim" to transport secretary Chris Grayling listing a number of reasons why permission for the new scheme is flawed in their eyes. The 27-page document contains an allegation of apparent bias against Sir Howard Davies, chairman of the Airports Commission, saying he was a paid adviser to one of the hub's shareholders.