Pollution rules may be suspended to allow big expansion of Heathrow

More than 60,000 extra flights will pass low over London each year under a government plan to suspend air pollution limits to allow Heathrow to expand.

The two existing runways will be used much more intensively, meaning that people living under flight paths will no longer have half a day’s respite from aircraft passing overhead.

The plan will result in an additional 25 million journeys by road to and from the airport each year, causing a sharp increase in air pollution from vehicle exhausts. The worst increases in nitrogen dioxide, which causes respiratory illnesses and premature death, will be along the M4 corridor.

Times of London