Heathrow decision faces new delay

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A decision on a third runway for Heathrow Airport, expected this week, could be delayed again amid opposition from Labour MPs.

Several Labour MPs urged PM Gordon Brown to drop the plans at a meeting on Monday and he agreed to further talks.

Meanwhile campaigners have bought land earmarked for the runway's construction in a bid to thwart the plans.

They say it will increase greenhouse gases but its supporters say it will create 65,000 jobs.

A decision had been due in December but was put back to allow more time to consider "strong views" on the issue - which also include noise pollution for people living near the airport.

Decision due

Asked whether an announcement was imminent, the prime minister's spokesman said a decision had only been promised "in January" - the cabinet is expected to debate the issue on Tuesday morning.

The longer the government keeps debating this, the better Martin SalterLabour backbencher <a class="" href="/1/hi/uk_politics/7825484.stm">Battle lines drawn over Heathrow</a>

The government has said it supports, in principle, a third runway at Heathrow - subject to it meeting pollution targets and improved public transport access.

But there have been reports that several cabinet ministers have serious concerns about the plan and there has been growing unrest among backbenchers. In October 56 Labour MPs signed a Commons motion urging the government to rethink its plans.

On Monday evening several MPs told Mr Brown of their objections to the third runway plan, at the first Parliamentary Labour Party meeting since the Christmas break.

Mr Brown told them there was an intense debate to be had on how to balance the economic case and the country's environmental obligations.

Legal challenges

Martin Salter, one of the MPs opposing the plans, said after the meeting Mr Brown had agreed to meet them to discuss concerns in detail.

"The longer the government keeps debating this, the better," he said.

Hundreds of homes in Sipson would be bulldozed if the runway is built

"I am assuming that no decision will be made until after the meeting."

A spokesman for Mr Brown said he had told the meeting he would be happy to hold more talks but no date had been set.

Meanwhile a Greenpeace coalition has bought land half the size of a football pitch near Sipson - the village due to lose hundreds of homes if the expansion gets the go-ahead.

They say they will divide it into small squares and sell it off to people across the world, in an effort to tie up the planning process in hundreds of legal challenges.

And London's Conservative mayor, Boris Johnson, has suggested he will go to court over any decision to allow the third runway to go ahead. He has called for a new airport to be built in the Thames Estuary instead.

The Conservatives and Liberal Democrats oppose the expansion of Heathrow - both parties favour the development of high-speed rail links instead.

But BA chief executive Willie Walsh said expanding Heathrow was the only "credible option" and said all the environmental concerns could be met.

He says the project would not be completed until about 2019/20 by which time new aircraft would emit 55% less carbon dioxide than planes did in 2000.

Airport operator BAA argues Heathrow is "jam-packed" and needs a third runway to remain competitive globally.

The Unite and GMB unions also back the third runway and say it will create 65,000 new jobs.