Howard Davies hits back

Sir Howard Davies arrived hotfoot from Heathrow (and Shanghai) for a suppertime discourse at the end of the first day of Runways UK.  He made it clear that upon publication of his committee’s report the previous week his job was over. 

He said he would not comment further noting that for the most part the newspaper commentary was fair, but not understanding The Times in its promotion of Gatwick.  His real niggle was Conservative MP for Richmond Zac Goldsmith “hiding behind parliamentary privilege” claiming that the Commission had made its mind up before it had even started. “Absolutely not true.  The national, economic interests were paramount.”

Sir Howard turned Boris Johnson's claim that the Heathrow runway was "the sort of thing you could have got away with in China in the 1950s" to his advantage noting that the disruption that would have been caused by the Mayor of London's Thames Estuary airport was “more akin to what happens in that country.”

He was also scathing of Mr Johnson’s arithmetic noting that he had got his figures completely wrong.  “With Heathrow you lose 750 houses and the present cost is £18bn.  For an estuary airport 1,500 houses go, the cost is £50bn and you close Heathrow, London City and Southend airports.  120,000 job losses!”   www.gov.uk/government/people/howard-davies

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