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12.40 pm
Mr. Paul Goggins (Wythenshawe and Sale, East): I am grateful for the opportunity to speak in this brief debate, and I thank the hon. Member for Tatton (Mr. Bell) for his
approach to it and for allowing time for other hon. Members to contribute. I congratulate him on the result on 1 May. Although we disagree on this issue, I acknowledge that he represents his constituents with honesty and integrity.
Half of runway two will be in my constituency, in addition to the two terminals and the 280 businesses that currently constitute the commercial community of Manchester international airport. The hon. Member for Tatton expressed his view and the views of a number of his constituents, but there is another view on runway two, which was endorsed by the inspector after a public inquiry that lasted more than 100 days and took evidence from 180 witnesses. That view is backed by the whole of the region's business community and, according to a recent MORI opinion poll, supported by 80 per cent. of local residents. I also support the view that the decision to go ahead with runway two is the most important strategic decision that has been made in the north-west region for decades, and that the extra capacity that will flow from that decision will unlock the region's economic potential and make the north-west a focal point in the global economy.
I must dispute some of the figures that the hon. Member for Tatton gave. The current and projected rate of growth in air passenger travel will result in 30 million passengers passing through Manchester airport by 2005, not 20 million as he stated. That is double the current rate. With those additional passengers will come 15,000 new airport jobs and as many as 35,000 further jobs elsewhere in the region. Those figures were not plucked out of a hat, as the hon. Gentleman said, but are well researched and well founded projections.
Some 2,000 of my constituents who live barely a mile from Manchester airport are out of work. Some of the young people in Wythenshawe, whom I represent, are third generation unemployed. They have given up hope of ever finding a job. The hon. Gentleman described the people of Tatton as concerned and dismayed. I ask them to put themselves in the place of those unemployed people and to imagine what it is like. Runway two may be their only chance of ever finding employment.
The least well known aspect of the £172 million investment, of which runway two is a part, is the environmental mitigation package, which the hon. Gentleman acknowledged. The eco-warriors labelled it as window dressing, but it will mean more ponds, new hedgerows and new grasslands and woodlands. Manchester airport has a 15-year management plan, so those 850 acres of countryside will be protected.
Mr. Graham Stringer (Manchester, Blackley):
I welcome this opportunity to put arguments in favour of the second runway and the development of Manchester airport, in addition to those put by my hon. Friend the Member for Wythenshawe and Sale, East (Mr. Goggins).
The essence of the case made by the hon. Member for Tatton (Mr. Bell) was that the extra traffic could be diverted to Liverpool airport and that the people of Merseyside would welcome that. He misunderstands European law and the freedom of airlines to travel where they want. Neither United Kingdom nor European law provides a power to tell airlines to land at Liverpool when they want to land at Manchester. If there were such a law, I hope that the hon. Member for Tatton would oppose it. Why should people who want to fly from Manchester have to go to Liverpool or anywhere else?
Airlines use airports because of the facilities that they offer. They can benefit from being able to transfer passengers to other airlines. In cities around the world, such as Glasgow, Toronto and Washington, attempts to run two airports separately have failed, and they have had to be amalgamated.
It was often said during the inquiry that Liverpool airport could be used instead of a second runway. If passengers were changing planes, even if a new route were built, would they want to arrive at Manchester and then take the train to Liverpool? I suspect that they would not welcome that.
I wish Liverpool well. I welcome the Deputy Prime Minister's statement on Monday that Liverpool and Manchester airports should work together for the benefit of the whole region, but it should not be done by some dictatorial distribution of traffic, which I believe would be unlawful.
The opponents of the second runway often use contradictory arguments. I am afraid that the hon. Member for Tatton falls into the category of people who say that demand is insufficient to justify the expansion of the airport. Other people argue that demand will grow too much, that the airport is not used efficiently enough, or that it is too efficient.
It has been argued that Gatwick can manage 35 million passengers on one runway. The aircraft that use Gatwick are larger. Jumbo jets use Gatwick in a way and in a mix that is not possible at Manchester. If Manchester could accommodate as many large aircraft, it could manage with one runway. Flights from Manchester are mainly short-haul to other parts of Europe and the United Kingdom, so jumbo jets do not fly from Manchester to Schiphol or Glasgow. Smaller aircraft require a greater number of movements and have fewer passengers.
Mr. Robert Sheldon (Ashton-under-Lyne):
I have only 60 seconds. I listened carefully to the speech of my hon. Friend the Member for Tatton (Mr. Bell). I call him my hon. Friend because he should have hon. Friends on both sides of the House, given the way in which he entered Parliament. He is ably looking after his constituents, and I understand that well. My home, where I have lived nearly all my life, is probably nearer to Manchester airport
The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Transport (Ms Glenda Jackson):
I congratulate the hon. Member for Tatton (Mr. Bell) on raising an issue that is important not only for his constituents but for all those who live and work in the north-west. I thank him for his generosity in allowing time for contributions by my hon. Friends the Members for Wythenshawe and Sale, East (Mr. Goggins) and for Manchester, Blackley (Mr. Stringer) and by my right hon. Friend the Member for Ashton-under-Lyne (Mr. Sheldon). They underlined my point that the issue is of great importance to the whole of the north-west.
Manchester airport is already the 18th busiest in the world, and handles more international passengers than Chicago's O'Hare airport. The proposal to build a second runway inevitably involved a wide range of aviation, economic, environmental and other issues and it became one of the biggest planning issues of the past decade. The Secretary of State at the time decided to call in the proposal because of its regional and national importance. A nine-month public inquiry was held from June 1994 to March 1995, at which parties that supported and those who opposed the runway gave evidence. Some 15,000 written representations were also taken into account. The inspector reported in August 1996 and recommended that planning permission should be granted. The then Secretary of State announced the granting of such permission in January this year.
Since the decision, opposition to the new runway has continued, and the Government have received numerous requests to revoke or review the decision. We have taken those requests seriously and examined the issues carefully. As a Cheshire girl, I would never have considered accusing the hon. Member for Tatton or any of his constituents of NIMBYism. We have concluded that it would be wrong to reopen the decision.
I am grateful for this opportunity to comment on some of the issues that were raised by the planning application, but I shall first give a brief outline of the policy background. We are committed to bringing together transport and environmental decision-making. My right hon. Friend the Secretary of State announced in the House on 5 June that we had launched a fundamental review of transport policy to provide an integrated transport system that meets the environmental and transport needs of all regions for today and the future. The review will look at short and long-term actions that are necessary to deliver an integrated transport system, and we aim to publish a White Paper in the spring. Its publication will mark the initial analytical goal setting and consultation phase in the development of that policy.
The hon. Member for Tatton spoke about possible investigation by the European Commission. There is no official investigation by the Commission. The current position is that it has asked the United Kingdom for comments on a dossier of papers that was provided to it. My Department is considering the dossier and will reply shortly. It will then be for the Commission to decide whether to take the matter further.
The accusation of state subsidy to British Airways relates to new facilities that are currently being constructed in terminal 1. The airport company agreed with BA and the other users of terminal 1 to redevelop the terminal following the opening of the first phase of the new terminal 2. The planning of that redevelopment has concentrated on increasing capacity, providing better facilities for passengers transferring between domestic and international flights and increasing the amount of retail space.
The first element of the redevelopment was a hub facility for Lufthansa and its partners. It opened last summer. Elements of the retail development are opening this summer. The final element is a new pier and associated facilities attached to the domestic part of the terminal which, in combination, will enable British Airways to combine its domestic and international operations in one part of the terminal. British Airways will not have exclusive use of those facilities. The airport company's arrangements with BA are consistent with the principles of the arrangements with other airlines for customisation of airport facilities. Airport charges will remain the same for BA as for all other users of the airport, as was explained to the Monopolies and Mergers Commission as part of the economics of the airport's charges.
Manchester airport has experienced sustained long-term growth in demand. It has retained its position as the UK's third busiest airport and has increased its market share over the years from 8 per cent. of all UK airport traffic in 1983 to 11 per cent. in 1993. It expects demand to grow from 12.9 million passengers in 1993 to 29.4 million in 2005, if the second runway goes ahead.
Even if the airport were restricted to one runway, demand is still expected to grow to 22.8 million passengers by 2005. However, the constraint of having only one runway would mean that there would be more pressure to find slots in off-peak times and more inconvenience to passengers. The inquiry discussed whether there could be other ways to meet the demand and decided that there was no other clear solution. The inspector recommended that there was no guarantee that demand could be diverted from Manchester airport, if it were restricted to one runway, to other northern airports.
The hon. Member for Tatton spoke about the issue that was raised by some objectors--the possibility of expanding Liverpool airport as an alternative to building a second runway at Manchester. A separate planning inquiry was held into proposals to expand Liverpool airport, as each of the Manchester and Liverpool proposals raised its own aviation, economic and environmental issues. My right hon. Friend the Secretary of State for the Environment, Transport and
the Regions recently announced that planning permission had been refused for the proposed expansion of Liverpool airport.
There is nothing that I can add to that decision other than to reiterate that those proposals would have caused more environmental harm than was justified by the need. We hope that Manchester and Liverpool airports will develop in a co-operative and complementary way. That is clearly a matter for the Manchester airport management to discuss with Liverpool airport's new owners.
The hon. Member for Tatton referred to the destruction that he has seen, and said that the central issue of the debate relates to people. As my hon. Friend the Member for Wythenshawe and Sale, East said, we have seen the destruction not only of the environment but of people brought about by economic decay. That is why the runway is so important to the whole of the north-west. The airport management has calculated that its planned expansion will lead to the creation of an extra 50,000 jobs by 2005, either directly or indirectly, compared with 1993. Some 18,000 of those jobs will be attributable to the second runway rather than to some other aspect of airport expansion. We are aware that objectors have queried those forecasts, and we do not necessarily subscribe to any one set of forecasts, but we agree with the inspector's conclusion that the only real dispute is over the scale of the impact.
We are confident that the growth of Manchester airport can be achieved in line with the principles of sustainable development. The public inquiry concluded that airport expansion should not lead to extra urbanisation as there should be sufficient capacity in the conurbation to accommodate the new jobs and the extra work force. We are pleased to see that the airport authorities have entered into a commitment to increase the proportion of passengers using public transport, hopefully to 25 per cent. We have given a grant to the airport for a new rail siding so that construction material can be brought to the site without disturbing the local community.
The second runway is in the green belt and is not the sort of development that would normally be appreciated in such a belt. I have two comments about that. First, national green belt policy allows exceptions in special circumstances and the previous Secretary of State considered that the need for the runway and the economic benefit that it would bring constituted special circumstances in this case. Secondly, the decision does not represent a general relaxation of green belt policy.
The benefits that the second runway will bring to the north-west must be weighed against local environmental impacts--the hon. Member for Tatton made several points on the issue--principally on the local ecology and landscape. A development of this type and scale will inevitably have some impact on the area, and that should be taken into account in any planning decision.
12.50 pm
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