Many business people think that the UK needs to expand its airport capacity in the South East so that the economy can grow. The quickest and easiest way to do this is to include a third runway and sixth terminal at Heathrow. Many environmentalists are not in favour of this and many would prefer a new airport built in the Thames estuary or expansion at Gatwick or Stansted.
Arguments for and against a third runway at Heathrow include the following:
For:
Passenger numbers are predicted to increase from 160 million per year in 1988 to over 400 million per year by 2020 so greater air travel capacity is needed.
Without expansion, the UK will lose out on business competitiveness and tourism.
Building a new airport in a different location, for instance on an island in the Thames, would take much longer than expanding Heathrow.
Heathrow already has good transport links so expanding it is the cheapest way of creating additional capacity.
High Speed 2 could be expanded from London offering a fact connection to Heathrow to Birmingham,
60,000 jobs would be provided by the creation of the third runway.
This could increase Heathrow's efficiency and therefore reduce the emissions of planes waiting to land.
Against:
725,000 people already live under the Heathrow flight path; it covers an area of high population density. Airport expansion would mean that even more homes would be affected by noise pollution.
700 homes would be destroyed and the village of Sipson would be wiped out.
New roads would have to be built to access the runway and terminal; one of these will cut through Cherry Lane cemetery.
Heathrow School will be demolished and The William Bird School will be at the end of the new runway.
Eight grade 2 listed buildings and a church will be destroyed.
Green belt land will be devastated, and agricultural land and ecosystems will be destroyed.
Noise, air and visual pollution will increase in the area.
Heathrow would become the biggest emitter of carbon dioxide in the country. The third runway could emit as much carbon dioxide per year as the whole of Kenya.
Heathrow already has one of the highest numbers of international flights to key business centres (990 per week). This is many more than its rivals, such as Charles de Gaulle in Paris.
With the growth of internet and tele conferencing it is possible that the number of business trips will not grow.
Increasing capacity will increase carbon dioxide emissions. It would be better to reduce the number of short haul flights by increasing air fares and encouraging train travel, especially if HS2 goes ahead.
Regional airports such as Manchester could be used to greater capacity.