§ Mr. MoateTo ask the Secretary of State for Transport whether the working party he has established to examine the Civil Aviation Authority's report on runway capacity in the south-east will be examining only the range of options set out in that report; and if he will make his policy that greenfield sites for major new airports in the south-east will not be considered.
§ Mr. McLoughlinMy right hon. Friend explained in his reply of 17 July to a parliamentary question from my hon. Friend the Member for Saffron Walden (Mr. Haselhurst) his intention that the working group should address the wider implications of airport development for the options identified by the Civil Aviation Authority, in addition to examining the contribution of regional airports to meeting demand. My right hon. Friend had earlier agreed with the authority's judgment that the development of a major airport on a completely new site in the south-east was unlikely to be realistic or acceptable.