Planning Bill

This is an important Bill. I would not extend its importance as far back as Cromwell, as the right hon. Member for Suffolk, Coastal (Mr. Gummer) did, but from the Secretary of State's point of view it does go back as far as Dalton in 1947. It will set out the planning processes for the forthcoming generation. The Bill is also important for my constituents because the first major infrastructure project likely to be considered under the new process will be the third runway and the sixth terminal at Heathrow, which could lead to 10,000 of my constituents losing their homes and the demolition of three of their primary schools. It would mean the largest forcible removal of people from their communities since the Scottish clearances. I have looked at the latest consultation document and the new flight paths, and we now know—as we predicted—that BAA has made a proposal for an extended runway, not a short-take off one, which will impact on St. Peter's and St. Paul's mediaeval church in my constituency, and St. Mary's in Harmondsworth—a church with an 1,000-year history. We think that they will be rendered unusable, and we will be back where we were three years ago, with proposals to disinter our dead because of this plan. The Bill is important for me, my constituents and my communities. Much has been made of the experience of terminal 5, and I agree that the genesis of the Bill does come partly from the experience of terminal 5. However, it also comes from a lobby by BAA and the aviation industry over a long period, in their planning for the third runway and the sixth terminal and, I say to this House, in their planning for a fourth runway and a seventh terminal in due course, as admitted by former BAA policy planners. The Prime Minister, then Chancellor of the Exchequer, appointed not just one, but two experts to develop the Barker report and the Eddington report on transport and planning. To the shock, horror and amazement of all Members, I am sure, the appointment of the former chief executive of British Airways resulted in proposals to expand airports.