Last week's poll: should Gatwick or Heathrow be allowed to expand?

Government ministers today announced their support for a new runway at Heathrow  Airport, a decision that is somewhat at odds with the results of our latest poll.

Last week we asked if Gatwick or Heathrow should be allowed to expand, with just under a fifth (19 per cent) opting for Heathrow. Gatwick fared a little better with 21 per cent of the 723 votes cast.

Just under half of the vote (46 per cent) was split equally between those who favoured expansion at both airports, and those who want to see an entirely new airport built. A total of 14 per cent opted for ‘None of the above’.

In July 2015 the Airports Commission published its final report on airport expansion, with Heathrow identified as being the preferred option over Gatwick.

Gunning for expansion at Gatwick and Heathrow might be seen as wholly positive in this EU-Referendum era but, as commission chairman Howard Davies pointed out in The Telegraph on October 23, 2016, a green light for two proposals would result in neither being built ‘as it would be impossible to argue that both runways could be fully used in the next 20 years while meeting our legislated climate change commitments’.