Our submission to Government
Expanding:
Modernising:
Video of privately financed M25 realignment
Heathrow will deliver a brand-new tunnel and bridges for the M25, while keeping motorists on the move during construction of a third runway.
Following previous consultation with National Highways, we have designed a plan to build an ‘offline’ section of the M25, 130 metres to the west of the existing motorway.
Traffic will then be switched over from the old route to the new with a series of carefully planned overnight closures. By constructing the new section offline, impact on road users and local community is minimised.
The result is a wider and safer stretch of the motorway at one of the busiest junctions on the M25, 100% privately financed.
This means that Heathrow must apply for a Development Consent Order (DCO), as the project is too large to be considered through the usual planning process of submission to the local council(s).
Heathrow’s DCO application will be examined by the Planning Inspectorate (PINS), a team within Government and ultimately decided by the Secretary of State for Transport following a statutory process set out within the Planning Act 2008.
In order to meet Government’s target of achieving planning consent within this Parliament, Heathrow must resume our existing engagement with PINS that was paused in 2020 as early as possible. Engagement with PINS is a part of the statutory process but does not commit Heathrow to take forward expansion proposals to application.
Although the Government has confirmed their support for Heathrow's scheme and it will now be taken forward to inform the Government’s review of the Airport’s National Policy Statement (ANPS), no decision will be made on taking forward our expanding Heathrow proposals until we get further clarity on how the crucial next phase of the project will be regulated.
Heathrow is committed to working with our local community to provide certainty and ensure they benefit from an expanded Heathrow.
In 2019, Heathrow held a public consultation on expansion plans, the consultation documents can be found below. Feedback from the consultation is helping to define the masterplan. We remain in the pre application phase of a DCO, the same position as 2020. Heathrow has submitted a Programme Document to PINS setting out the proposed approach to pre-application phase.
Heathrow submitted its Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) Scoping Addendum Report to the Planning Inspectorate. This is an update from the original EIA scoping document that was submitted in May 2018, outlining the environmental effects of expanding Heathrow and proposed an approach to manage them, including on air quality, noise, biodiversity, community and carbon. Guidance and information relating to EIA scoping can be found here.
