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Chancellor Rachel Reeves announced a number of new growth measures. These included major infrastructure projects, new investment from the National Wealth Fund, reforming planning rules to get Britain building, and the creation of a homegrown UK answer to Silicon Valley, all of which I fully support!  
 

However, the Chancellor also announced her support for a third runway at Heathrow.

I have been a long-standing campaigner against Heathrow Expansion.  I led Hounslow’s “Better not Bigger” campaign when I was a Councillor, and I voted against a third runway in Parliament in 2018.

My position has not changed.

Expansion will mean more noise, congestion, and pollution for my constituents, especially for those areas of north Brentford, Osterley and Heston that would be under a new approach path. It is also incompatible with Labour’s growth and climate policies.

I am glad that so many of my constituents work at and depend on the airport.  This will not change.  Heathrow will continue to be the UK’s most important international airport, whether they build a third runway or not.

The Labour Government had previously said that expansion at Heathrow would only be approved if it fulfilled four tests; delivering economic growth across the whole of the UK, ensuring the UK’s climate change obligations are met, and addressing local noise and air quality issues. While I welcome the Chancellor’s drive for growth, and the other projects she announced last week, I do not see how expansion at Heathrow can satisfy the four tests for aviation expansion.

As the local MP, I will continue to campaign and stand up for residents across our constituency in the face of Heathrow expansion.

IN THE CHAMBER: 

It was a busy month in the Chamber, so here are just a few highlights…

• On 8th January I spoke in favour of the Children’s Wellbeing and Schools Bill. I welcomed the wide-ranging Bill, which focuses on ‘keeping children safe, providing more support for children in care, addressing child poverty, raising educational standards, and returning local authorities to the centre of school place planning’ (I focussed on the latter plus uniform costs, and school leadership in the short time I was given to speak). The Bill passed, despite an attempt by the Conservatives to introduce a politically motivated wrecking amendment.

• The next day, I had the chance to ask Transport Secretary, Heidi Alexander, if the Government had any plans to extend HS2’s route beyond Birmingham, thereby delivering growth to the whole of the UK. The Minister responded that ‘the previous Government drew up their Network North Plans on the back of a napkin’, but that the new spending review should identify a realistic pipeline of schemes to deliver better connectivity across the UK.

   

• On 17th January, I took part in a debate on how to increase domestic solar panel installation. I raised the concerns voiced by constituents at the Osterley and Wyke Green Residents’ Association meeting I had attended the previous night.
   

• In light of the news on Heathrow expansion, I raised the question of the UK’s legally-binding climate commitments – as well as the impact a third runway would have on the 600,000 local people who would face greater noise and air pollution as a result.  I asked Aviation Minister, Mike Kane, if he thought such an announcement should have been made in the context of a national aviation strategy, and if so, when we might expect to see one?

AS TRANSPORT COMMITTEE CHAIR: 

Speaking in my capacity as Committee Chair, I released the following statement on airport expansion: “The Chancellor’s drive for economic growth and investment in infrastructure is welcome. But the Transport Committee now wants to unpick how clear the links between airport expansion and growth – across the whole country – truly are. We will hold an evidence session on this question in the next few weeks.”

We have also launched three full inquiries that will take evidence in the next few months; into Street Works – because so many road users despair of both the number of roadworks, and the time that roads are closed, especially when seeing no work appearing to be being done.  The other inquiries are Buses Connecting Communities (in London we don’t know how lucky we are to have a decent bus service!) and finally, we will be looking at the rail investment pipeline, and why investment in rail projects cost 4 times that of countries like Germany.

OTHER “MP” ACTIVITY

River Crane: Following concerns by residents, including volunteers who take part in regular clean-ups, I wrote to the Environment Agency expressing my concern about their lack of action to remove rubbish dumped in the River Crane.

I have written to the Home Office to ask for greater security support to Sikh Gurdwaras, following concerns from local leaders about the safety of their community.

COMMUNITY UPDATE 

With best wishes,

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