Delay is no excuse: get spades in the ground at Heathrow, says GMB

GMB Union has hit back at attempts to use a revised timeline for Heathrow's third runway as an argument for scrapping it.

Heathrow said today that it hopes to secure planning permission by 2029 and open the runway within a decade. That means the Government's 2035 target could slip by four years. The airport says planning and regulation are to blame.

 Heathrow is Britain's biggest port by value. Last year £293bn of goods passed through it, more than a quarter of all UK trade, from medicines to fresh food. A

nd it is full. Two runways. No spare capacity. Nowhere left to grow. Every year without a third runway is a year that new trade goes to France, Germany and the Netherlands instead of Britain.

GMB represents workers across Heathrow. The union says the answer to a slow planning system is to fix the planning system, not abandon one of the country’s most important infrastructure projects.

Warren Kenny, GMB London Regional Secretary said:

"Opponents of this runway will try to dress up a timetable as a verdict. It isn't one. A project taking longer to build is not a reason not to build it. It's a reason to start now.

"Heathrow has been clear that the hold-up is planning and red tape. Politicians can fix that. The Chancellor is right to be clearing bottlenecks, and we want to see that go further and faster. Finalise the framework, hold the vote and get building.

 "There are 108,000 jobs waiting on this decision. Every year of dithering is a year of apprenticeships not started, contracts not signed and wages not paid. Our members aren't waiting for 2039. The jobs start the day the spades go in the ground.

"GMB members keep Heathrow running every day. They're ready to build what comes next.

“Let's get building.”

The £49bn expansion is 100% privately financed. Heathrow estimates it will create at least 108,000 new jobs and billions of pounds of supply chain investment across the UK. GMB is calling for those to be good jobs: union-recognised, fairly paid and open to local people in Hillingdon, Hounslow and across West London.