Breaking: Government approves third runway at Heathrow
LONDON - The government has approved controversial plans for a third runway at Heathrow.
The government's economic sub-committee, chaired by Prime Minister Theresa May, presented the plans to her Cabinet, which approved them in full.
Transport secretary Chris Grayling told MPs on Tuesday that "the time for action is now" and described it as a "historic moment," adding that the expansion was still "a number of years away."
He said that residents affected by noise and construction would receive a total of £2.6 billion compensation and said the plans would only proceed if they complied with air quality obligations.
MPs will vote on the expansion plans in the next several weeks.
The debate over the merits of expanding Heathrow has raged for over two decades. The last Labour government backed the idea - and won a Commons vote on the issue - but it was mothballed by the Conservative-Lib Dem coalition that took power in 2010.
Advocates say the expansion is vital to keeping Britain globally competitive, while opponents say a new runway would breach the UK's air pollution laws and increase London's noise pollution even further.
The Confederation of British Industry (CBI), which represents 190,000 UK businesses, welcomed the news.
"It's fantastic that the new runway at Heathrow is getting closer to take-off," said Josh Hardie, CBI deputy director-general. All the more so as the United Kingdom has waited for nearly half a century for this decision.
"Expanding our aviation capacity, and creating new flight routes to rapidly growing markets, is mission critical to ensuring Britain can compete on the post-Brexit world stage.
This is a developing story...