Hillingdon Council Leader Cllr Ray Puddifoot has welcomed the confirmation that the new Government will cancel the third runway.

The decision which forms a key part of the coalition agreement between the Conservative and Liberal Democrat parties is the final nail in the coffin for the controversial scheme.

It is the second victory in just two months for anti-expansion campaigners.

In March Lord Justice Carnwath said the then government was wrong to have proceeded as if nothing had changed since the 2003 airports white paper setting out plans for airport expansion across the UK.

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Cllr Puddifoot, speaking on behalf of the 2M Group, said: "This news is the final proof of the extraordinary success of our campaign. First we won in the courts and now we've got the new Government confirming that it's all over.

"We could not have known what the outcome of the election would be when we brought this challenge. The judgment meant that whatever the result the case for the third runway would have been set back years.

"This won't be the end of our campaigning, we will want to ensure that the current relief offered to residents by runway alternation is maintained and we will be pressing for reductions in night flights and more stringent noise and air quality controls.

"The new Government now has the chance to draw a line under an unsatisfactory period of public administration when too often it seemed that the aviation lobby's interests were being placed ahead of the concerns of local people about the environment and their quality of life."

(CD)