Heathrow (Third Runway)

I completely agree with my hon. Friend, and I will respond to that point in more detail later. The Secretary of State's assurances on noise simply lack credibility because the Government have made every effort to duck their promises in the past. Let us take their assurance that expansion would not lead to an increase in the area covered by the 57-decibel noise contour. Even setting aside the criticism of the validity of that contour—such criticism came from both the World Health Organisation and the DFT's own research study, ““Attitudes to Noise from Aviation Sources in England””, or ANASE—the Government use the 2002 base year for their calculations, a year when Concorde was still flying. The way in which the Civil Aviation Authority's noise model operates means that that the demise of Concorde gives the headroom to give the green light to major increases in flight movements by conventional planes, without exceeding the noise tests set.