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Adjaye Associates, Ron Arad Architects and the landscape architects Gustafson Porter + Bowman have been selected to design the UK’s new Holocaust Memorial and Learning Centre.

After an international competition, with 92 entries in total and ten finalists, Adjaye Associates, Ron Arad Architects and Gustafson Porter + Bowman were selected unanimously as the winning team, by a jury including the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government, the Mayor of London, the Chief Rabbi, experts from architecture, art and design, and both first and second generation Holocaust survivors.

The design team will be led by British architect, Sir David Adjaye, who is known for creating sensitive yet compelling designs. His recent work includes the National Museum of African American History and Culture in Washington D.C. and the Idea Stores in London’s Tower Hamlets.

Located next to the Houses of Parliament in Westminster, the new UK Holocaust Memorial will honour the six million Jewish men, women and children who were murdered in the Holocaust, and all other victims of Nazi persecution, including Roma, gay and disabled people.

Its co-located Learning Centre will contextualise the memorial above and use the stories and facts of the Holocaust to explore anti-Semitism, extremism, Islamophobia, racism, homophobia and other forms of hatred and prejudice in society today. From its location next to Parliament, it will ask questions about the role of society and its institutions in encouraging respect for others and preventing hatred.

The jury praised the winning team’s proposal to create “a living place, not just a monument to something of the past” and the desire to create an immersive journey for the visitor who would enter a memorial embedded in the land. The jury found the proposal deftly resolved an essential challenge of the brief: being visually arresting (“highly visible from near and far”) yet showing sensitivity to its location and context. The concept was found to have clear potential to be developed into an iconic memorial and intriguing educational experience, attracting visitors from the UK and beyond to learn and reflect.

The winning concept is at an early design stage. It will now undergo further development through discussion with Holocaust experts, survivors and other victim groups, and local residents, Westminster City Council, Historic England, Royal Parks and other statutory consultees. As part of this process, the United Kingdom Holocaust Memorial Foundation will also work closely with other organisations and experts on the contents and approach of the co-located Learning Centre.

The jury also awarded honourable mentions to two teams – heneghan peng architects and Sven Anderson, and Diamond Schmitt Architects.

Description of the winning concept

Design concept

The winning design concept was inspired by research into the site, Victoria Tower Gardens, next to the Houses of Parliament, with Sir David Adjaye describing the location as a “park of Britain’s conscience”. The memorial links with the statue of Emmeline Pankhurst, the Burghers of Calais and the Buxton Memorial: all four recognising injustice and the need to oppose it.

In order to keep the park as a park and to maintain the green space, the team placed its Holocaust Memorial at the far southern end of the gardens, embedded in the land. Accordingly, a visitor approaching the memorial would see a subtle grass landform with only the tips of the memorial’s fins “bristling in the distance”, its intriguing design giving a sense that something is happening underground and encouraging people to find out more.

The design concept takes visitors on a journey that culminates in confronting the 23 tall bronze fins of the memorial, the spaces in between representing the 22 countries in which Jewish communities were destroyed during the Holocaust. Entering the memorial would be a sensory experience. While the outside and inside space emphasises collective gathering, the 23 bronze fins require the visitor to enter in an isolated, solitary way, each pathway planned as a different experience. Each path eventually leads down into the Threshold – a generous hall which acts as a place of contemplation and transition into the Learning Centre below ground. The Learning Centre includes a “hall of testimonies” and a “Contemplation Court”: a silent, reflective space with eight bronze panels. On leaving the memorial, the circulation route ensures visitors will emerge to see the classic uninterrupted view of Parliament – and the reality of democracy.

Sir Peter Bazalgette, Chair of the UK Holocaust Memorial Foundation and the competition jury, said:

We were privileged to see submissions from some of the best teams in architecture, art and design today. On behalf of the jury, I would like to thank all teams for their impressive submissions.

The jury was unanimous in awarding this competition to Sir David Adjaye and his highly skilled and passionate team. Their ability to use architecture to create an emotionally powerful experience, their understanding of the complexity of the Holocaust and their desire to create a living place as well as a respectful memorial to the past and its surroundings, will combine to create a new national landmark for generations to come.

We look forward to working with them on this nationally significant project: a statement by the British people that our nation will remember those who suffered, and that we will always strive for a better future.

Sir David Adjaye, speaking on behalf of Adjaye Associates, Ron Arad and Gustafson Porter + Bowman said:

The complexity of the Holocaust story, including the British context, is a series of layers that have become hidden by time. Our approach to the project has been to reveal these layers and not let them remain buried under history. To do so, we wanted to create a living place, not just a monument to something of the past. We wanted to orchestrate an experience that reminds us of the fragility and constant strife for a more equitable world.

We are deeply honoured to have been given the opportunity to tell these stories to the nation through a National Memorial and Learning Centre. It is critical these highly important and emotive historical touchpoints are explored, so that future generations are able to experience, learn, reflect and act.

Ben Helfgott, MBE President, 45 Aid Society, Holocaust Survivors and President HMDT, British Olympic Weightlifter and jury member said:

I have spent each and every day since I was liberated in 1945 remembering my family and friends, and all of the victims of the Holocaust who were murdered by the Nazis. With fellow survivors in the 45 Aid Society, and with our children and grandchildren, I have sought to tell and retell the painful history accurately and in context, and to make sure we use the tragic experience to fight for justice and the rule of law, and to spread the message of tolerance.

I am very proud of my involvement in the many key Holocaust education projects in the UK over recent decades, none more so than this vital UK national Memorial and Learning Centre in its uniquely significant location next to the Mother of Parliaments.

As we – the youngest survivors – pass on the baton of Remembrance, we are delighted to see this wonderful design team deliver a Memorial and Learning Centre which will resonate for generations.

Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government and jury member, Sajid Javid, said:

Congratulations to Sir David Adjaye and his team on this stunning, inspiring, sobering concept for the UK’s new Holocaust Memorial and Learning Centre. Constructed right in the heart of our democracy, it will be a lasting tribute both to those who died and to those who survived.

Through this project, we stand up as a nation; we stand together regardless of our religion, race or background; and we stand against ignorance and bigotry. The new Learning Centre will not only remind us of mankind’s capacity for darkness, through the story of the Holocaust and other genocides – crucially, it will also remind us of our incredible capacity for good.

The Mayor of London, Sadiq Khan, said:

Congratulations to Sir David Adjaye and his team on an exceptional winning design for the UK’s Holocaust Memorial and Learning Centre. The standard of entries were incredibly strong, but David’s stood out for its beauty and sensitivity.

This unique and immersive memorial is not just for Londoners, but for the whole UK. It will ensure the horrors of the Holocaust are never forgotten and will stand as a powerful reminder to future generations about the fragility of peace. I look forward to working with the UK Holocaust Memorial Foundation as the project develops.

Chief Rabbi Ephraim Mirvis said:

The question of how we will memorialise the Holocaust in the years to come, in a society which will no longer be able to rely on first-hand testimony of survivors, is one that should occupy the mind of every one of us. Today, the British nation has taken an important and historic step in offering our answer to that question.

The outstanding winning concept will provide an entry point for a greater national understanding of the Holocaust and its contemporary relevance. This timely memorial will encourage and inspire peaceful coexistence and tolerance and will lead to a better appreciation of what can happen when hatred is allowed to develop unchecked.

Sarah Weir, Chief Executive of the Design Council, said:

It was a privilege to be a part of the judging panel for such an extraordinarily important and influential project. The quality of the entries was extremely high and the expertise of the winning team exemplified all that is best about British design creativity and talent, for which we are renowned.

The bold and sensitive collaboration between architecture, landscape architecture, art and design from such a multi-faceted and award winning team truly captured our attention. But also the seriousness with which the team approached the brief and the responsibility they saw they had to carry the messages from this terrible history on to the generations to come. Sir David Adjaye described the core of their concept during the interviews as being ‘architecture as emotion’. That powerful and resonant core is one I very much look forward to seeing develop and come to fruition for all of us to experience.

Ed Balls, who was a member of the Prime Minister’s Holocaust Commission and is now a member of the Holocaust Memorial Foundation Board, said:

What better way to show that we will not tolerate hatred than our new Holocaust Memorial, right next to our Parliament. There is no location more fitting to honour the victims of one of humanity’s greatest tragedies than side-by-side with one of humanity’s oldest democracies. No better way to strengthen education initiatives up and down the country.

Today we stand up as a nation and say to each other, and to the world, that there is no place for hate in our society. There is no better gift we can pass to future generations than the knowledge of where hatred, unchecked, can lead.

Paul Williams OBE, Stanton Williams Architects.

Firstly, I would like to congratulate David Adjaye and his team on being awarded this hugely significant, and emotionally charged commission. A commission requiring not only sensitivity to the subject matter, but also the surrounding landscape and adjacency to Parliament.

The team’s proposals for a ‘sensory experience’ were expressed passionately and convincingly in their presentation. This core objective from the concept designs must sit at the heart of the development stage that will now start in discussion with stakeholders as the project moves forward.

Honourable mentions

The jury awarded heneghan peng architects and Sven Anderson an honourable mention for an original and engaging design that brought the testimony and voices of survivors to the foreground. The team’s triangular sunken courtyard was imagined as an ‘ear’ that listened up to Parliament and down to the memorial – the stone walls punctured with a series of small apertures containing wooden blocks which emitted the voices of survivor testimony. The team intended the memorial to be a place to hold the testimonies “with nothing in between to create a heightened sense of listening, pause and reflection”.

The jury also awarded an honourable mention to Diamond Schmitt Architects for an elegant, restrained design and an impressively rigorous and detailed approach. Centred on the idea of a journey from light to dark and dark to light, the memorial created a void in the gardens intended to symbolise loss and absence. The elliptic walls of the memorial were inscribed with the names of the concentration camps, and the six million victims commemorated through a series of ingots impressed into the cast-iron structure, a reference to Britain’s manufacturing history.

During the competition, which was managed by Malcolm Reading Consultants, the ten shortlisted designs were displayed online and in various exhibitions across the UK, including a three week exhibition at the Victoria and Albert Museum in London. Consultation events were also held with Holocaust survivors, the Roma community and education experts.

The final design will be subject to planning approval. Subject to the planning process, the Memorial and Learning Centre are due for completion by 2021.

The jury consisted of:

• Sir Peter Bazalgette (Chair)
• Rt Hon Sajid Javid MP, Communities and Local Government Secretary
• Rt Hon Sadiq Khan, Mayor of London
• Chief Rabbi Ephraim Mirvis
• Samantha Cohen, Assistant Private Secretary to The Queen
• Charlotte Cohen, Prime Minister’s Holocaust Commission Youth Commissioner
• Alice Greenwald, President and CEO National September 11 Memorial and Museum
• Ben Helfgott, MBE President 45 Aid Society, Holocaust Survivors and President HMDT, British Olympic Weightlifter
• Natasha Kaplinsky OBE, Broadcaster
• The Lord Daniel Finkelstein OBE, Journalist
• Dame Julia Peyton-Jones DBE, Former Director of Serpentine Gallery
• Sarah Weir OBE, CEO of Design Council
• Paul Williams OBE, Stanton Williams Architects.

The jury was advised by Competition Director, Malcolm Reading.

With cross-party support, the Government has committed £50 million for the UK Holocaust Memorial Foundation to take forward the recommendations of the Commission. In addition to the government funding, the Foundation will fundraise additional contributions to deliver the National Memorial and Learning Centre and its broader educational objectives.

Reflections

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As the Chief Medical Officer and experts around the world warn of a ‘post-antibiotic apocalypse’ and ‘the end of modern medicine’, Public Health England launches a major new campaign to help ‘Keep Antibiotics Working’.

The campaign warns people that taking antibiotics when they are not needed puts them at risk of a more severe or longer infection, and urges people to take their doctor’s advice on antibiotics.

Public Health England’s ESPAUR report reveals that as antibiotic resistance grows, the options for treatment decrease. Worryingly, 4 in 10 patients with an E.coli bloodstream infection in England cannot be treated with the most commonly used antibiotic in hospitals.

Antibiotics are essential to treat serious bacterial infections, such as meningitis, pneumonia and sepsis, but they are frequently being used to treat illnesses, such as coughs, earache and sore throats that can get better by themselves.

Taking antibiotics encourages harmful bacteria that live inside you to become resistant. That means that antibiotics may not work when you really need them. It is estimated that at least 5,000 deaths are caused every year in England because antibiotics no longer work for some infections and this figure is set to rise with experts predicting that in just over 30 years antibiotic resistance will kill more people than cancer and diabetes combined.

The ‘Keep Antibiotics Working’ campaign urges the public to always trust their doctor, nurse or pharmacist’s advice as to when they need antibiotics and if they are prescribed, take antibiotics as directed and never save them for later use or share them with others. The campaign also provides effective self-care advice to help individuals and their families feel better if they are not prescribed antibiotics.

Professor Paul Cosford, Medical Director at Public Health England, comments:

Antibiotic resistance is not a distant threat, but is in fact one of the most dangerous global crises facing the modern world today. Taking antibiotics when you don’t need them puts you and your family at risk of developing infections which in turn cannot be easily treated with antibiotics. Without urgent action from all of us, common infections, minor injuries and routine operations will become much riskier. PHE’s ‘Keep Antibiotics Working’ campaign helps to explain the risks of antibiotic resistance to the public. It is important for people to understand that if they are feeling under the weather and see their GP or a nurse, antibiotics may not be prescribed if they are not effective for their condition, but they should expect to have a full discussion about how to manage their symptoms.

Professor Dame Sally Davies, Chief Medical Officer, comments:

Without effective antibiotics, minor infections could become deadly and many medical advances could be at risk; surgery, chemotherapy and caesareans could become simply too dangerous. But reducing inappropriate use of antibiotics can help us stay ahead of superbugs. The public has a critical role to play and can help by taking collective action. I welcome the launch of the ‘Keep Antibiotics Working’ campaign, and remember that antibiotics are not always needed so always take your doctor’s advice.

Health Minister Steve Brine said:

Following on from the global Call to Action conference held this month, we are asking people to help so we can make sure antibiotics keep working. This government is firmly committed to combatting drug resistant infections and refuses to allow modern medicine to grind to a halt – simple steps can make a huge difference.

Dr Chris Van Tulleken, TV and of infectious diseases doctor at University College London Hospitals, comments:

As an infectious diseases doctor, I see first-hand what happens if antibiotics don’t work – and it’s scary. Antibiotics are not just vital for treating serious bacterial infections, they’re needed to help with other treatments like chemotherapy. Antibiotic resistance is a problem that will affect every one of us, so we all have a role to play. As GPs we are often asked to prescribe antibiotics by patients who think that they will cure all their ills. The reality is that antibiotics are not always needed so you shouldn’t expect to be prescribed them by your doctor or nurse. Always take their advice and remember that your pharmacist can recommend medicines to help with your symptoms or pain.

Public Health England’s new campaign is part of a wider cross-government strategy, involving the agricultural, pharmaceutical and healthcare sectors, which tackles the threat of antibiotic resistance by increasing supply and reducing inappropriate demand.

To help keep this precious resource in the fight against infections working, the public are asked to play their part and urged to always take their doctor, nurse or pharmacist’s advice on antibiotics.

For further information on antibiotics, their uses and the risk of resistance, search ‘NHS Antibiotics’ online.

Background

1. The campaign will run from Monday 23 October across England for 8 weeks and will be supported with advertising, partnerships with local pharmacies and GP surgeries, and social media.

2. Additional data from Public Health England’s ESPAUR report illustrates:
   • four in 10 patients with an E.coli bloodstream infection in England cannot be treated with the commonest antibiotic (co-amoxiclav) used in hospitals; in addition, almost 1 in 5 of these bacteria were resistant to at least 1 of 5 other key antibiotics
   • of the 1 million antibiotic resistant bacteria causing urinary tract infections identified in NHS laboratories in 2016, trimethoprim resistance was very common (37%) but the current recommended first line treatment, nitrofurantoin, remains effective (3%)
   • between 2012 and 2016, antibiotic prescribing reduced by 5%, when measured as defined daily doses per 1000 inhabitants per day
   • the number of antibiotic prescriptions dispensed in General Practice decreased by 13% between 2012 and 2016 (-2% from 2015 to 2016)
   • dental practices dispensed 1 in 5 fewer prescriptions in 2016 compared to 2012 and more than 99% of prescribed antibiotics were in accordance with dental treatment guidelines
   • hospital prescribing has increased year on year, but has reduced use of the last resort antibiotics (piperacillin/tazobactam and carbapenems) by 4% between 2015 and 2016
3. Self-care advice provided by the ‘Keep Antibiotics Working’ campaign in leaflets and materials distributed in GP surgeries and pharmacies across England includes:
   • ask your pharmacist to recommend medicines to help with symptoms or pain
   • get plenty of rest
   • drink enough fluids to avoid feeling thirsty
   • use paracetamol if you or your child are uncomfortable as a result of fever – which is a sign of the body fighting infection, and normally gets better by itself in most cases
   • use tissues for your nose and wash your hands frequently to avoid spreading your infection to family and friends
4. If you or your child has any of these symptoms, are getting worse or are sicker than you would expect (even if your or their temperature falls), trust your instincts and seek medical advice urgently from NHS 111 or your GP. If a child under the age of 5 has any of symptoms 1 to 3, go to A&E immediately or call 999:
   • if your skin is very cold or has a strange colour, or you develop an unusual rash
   • if you feel confused or have slurred speech or are very drowsy
   • if you have difficulty breathing; signs can include:
     • breathing quickly
     • turning blue around the lips and the skin below the mouth
     • skin between or above the ribs getting sucked or pulled in with every breath
     • if you develop a severe headache and are sick
     • if you develop chest pain
     • if you have difficulty swallowing or are drooling
     • if you cough up blood
     • if you are feeling a lot worse

5. You can download all campaign assets including the TV advert and campaign imagery.

6. The campaign is part of a wider cross-government strategy to help preserve antibiotics. The government’s UK Five Year Antimicrobial Resistance Strategy 2013 to 2018 set out aims to improve the knowledge and understanding of AMR, conserve and steward the effectiveness of existing treatments, and stimulate the development of new antibiotics, diagnostics and novel therapies. In July 2014, the Prime Minister announced a review of antimicrobial resistance chaired by the economist Jim O’Neill. The subsequent report, published in 2016, recommended a number of actions to be taken globally to manage the rise of antimicrobial resistance, including public awareness campaigns.

7. PHE’s ‘Keep Antibiotics Working’ campaign targets the general public and is aligned Antibiotic Guardian which urges healthcare professionals and engaged members of the public to take one of a number of pledges to help personal and organisational commitment to preserve antibiotics.

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The Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, Greg Clark, has today (24 October 2017) appointed Fiona Dickie as Deputy Pubs Code Adjudicator (DPCA) who will support the Pubs Code Adjudicator, Paul Newby, in enforcing the Pubs Code.

Pubs Code Adjudicator Paul Newby said:

I am delighted to welcome Fiona Dickie to the team. Fiona’s 12 years’ judicial experience, including in complex and high-value cases, will be the perfect foundation to her role as Deputy Pubs Code Adjudicator. I look forward to working with her to improve conditions for tied tenants up and down the country.

Deputy Pubs Code Adjudicator Fiona Dickie said:

I am very proud to be appointed as Deputy Pubs Code Adjudicator. I look forward to using my legal background to offer a just and proportionate resolution to disputes, and to ensuring compliance with the Code to support a fair, thriving pubs industry and the local communities they serve. I encourage all interested parties to work with the Pubs Code Adjudicator.

Margot James, Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Small Business, Consumers and Corporate Responsibility, said:

The Pubs Code helps thousands of tied tenants across the country to secure a better deal and Fiona’s role will further strengthen this vital work.

Her extensive legal knowledge, dispute resolution skills and experience of complex cases will be invaluable assets in her new role.

Fiona Dickie will take up her role on 1 November 2017, working 4 days per week. She will be based in Birmingham.

Notes to editors

1. Fiona Dickie was called to the Bar in 1993. She has been a Vice President of the Valuation Tribunal for England since July 2009, and was appointed Judge of First-tier Tribunal (Property Chamber) in 2013 (after serving as a Lawyer Chairman of its predecessor tribunal from 2006). She was accredited as a Civil Mediator by the Alternative Dispute Resolution (ADR) Group in 2005. She was also appointed as a Road User Charging Adjudicator (RUCA) in 2004, and appointed as an Examiner of the Court in 2004.

2. This appointment is made in accordance with the code of practice for the Office of the Commissioner for Public Appointments (OCPA). The appointment is made for an initial term of 2 years.

3. The Pubs Code regulates the relationship between all businesses owning 500 or more tied pubs in England and Wales and their tied tenants. The Deputy Pubs Code Adjudicator will support the Pubs Code Adjudicator and will have the same powers as the Adjudicator to arbitrate individual disputes about breaches of the Pubs Code (including disputes on rent and market rent only options), investigate suspected systemic breaches of the Code more widely across the sector, provide advice and guidance about the Code and report on unfair business practices.

4. The Statutory Pubs Code was introduced in May 2016. In the first year the Pubs Code Adjudicator has accepted 156 cases for arbitration and made 48 arbitration awards. Anyone with a stake in the pub business is encouraged to work with the Pubs Code Adjudicator and Deputy Pubs Code Adjudicator to raise the profile of the Code and improve relationships across the industry.

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Transport Secretary Chris Grayling has today (24 October 2017) set out the next stage of delivering a third runway at Heathrow Airport.

The government is on track to publish final proposals for expansion at Heathrow in the first half of 2018 for a vote in Parliament.

Now the public have until 19 December to consider and respond to new evidence in the revised draft Airports National Policy Statement, including long term aviation forecasts and the new government National air quality plan.

Once MPs approve the final document, it will set the planning policy framework which the airport needs in order to bring forward a planning application for the new north-west runway.

An expanded Heathrow Airport would be more accessible to the rest of the country thanks to HS2, Crossrail and at least 6 more domestic flight routes.

Key benefits of a new Heathrow runway are expected to be:

• a £74 billion benefit to passengers and the wider UK economy over 60 years
• tens of thousands of additional local jobs by 2030
• an additional 260,000 flights a year, with an extra 16 million long haul seats for passengers travelling from UK airports in 2040
• reduced fares, fewer delays and more daily destinations for passengers

Benefits of Heathrow Airport expansion

Transport Secretary Chris Grayling said:

Airport expansion is one of the most important type of infrastructure project for the UK – both in boosting our economy and jobs and promoting us on the world stage.

Leaving the EU is a new chapter for Britain and provides us with a great opportunity to forge a new role in the world. We are determined to seize that opportunity and having the right infrastructure in place will allow us to build a more global Britain.

The case for expanding Heathrow is as strong as ever and we want to hear your views on it. This is an important consultation and I encourage everybody to get involved across the UK.

On 25 October 2016, the Transport Secretary confirmed that the government’s preferred scheme for adding new runway capacity in the south-east was through a new north-west runway at Heathrow Airport.

This preference was reached in the interests of the whole of the UK and would make sure Britain has the connections it needs to thrive in the global market, sending a clear signal that Britain is open for business.

Heathrow is already the UK’s biggest freight port by value and a new runway would provide a post-Brexit boost for exports. Heathrow’s expansion would open up new links between the UK and markets around the world. It would connect UK goods and services to global customers and make the UK a more attractive location for inward investment.

Expansion at Heathrow is also an opportunity to strengthen the frequency of existing domestic routes and develop new domestic connections from regional airports to London and new global markets.

A third runway will double freight capacity at the airport and allow businesses across the country the opportunity to boost their exports.

Heathrow Airport will be more accessible to the Midlands and the North of England thanks to HS2 via the interchange at Old Oak Common from 2026.

Have your say on Heathrow Airport expansion

The revised draft Airports National Policy Statement sets the planning policy framework which an applicant would have to comply with in order to get development consent for building a new north-west runway, including:

• delivering at least 6 more domestic routes across the UK by 2030
• providing a world-class package of support for communities affected, including noise insulation for homes and schools
• setting legally binding noise targets, periods of predictable respite and a ban of 6 and a half hours on scheduled night flights
• paying home owners 25% above market value rate plus costs for the compulsory purchase of their homes if needed to make way for the new runway

We are also building on Heathrow’s pledges on compensation to put forward a world-class package worth up to £2.6 billion. This will include fully noise insulating homes, schools and community building most affected by noise and a Community Compensation Fund which could raise up to £50 million per year.

Planning consent will only be granted if the new runway can be delivered in accordance with our air quality and climate change obligations.

The Transport Secretary has also made airport noise for communities a top priority and will now have the power to review any changes to flight paths where they are of national significance.

He also launched the Independent Commission for Civil Aviation Noise (ICCAN) to give communities confidence that any proposed airspace changes appropriately consider the impact of aviation noise.

The measures will also enable greater use of new technology to manage airspace more effectively – helping tackle delays, cut emissions and reduce the need for stacking above our busiest airports.

The revised draft Airports National Policy Statement is still subject to Parliamentary scrutiny by a Select Committee. This can be conducted concurrently with the consultation announced today.

Only after Select Committee scrutiny is complete will any final Airports National Policy Statement be laid before Parliament for debate and the opportunity for a vote in the House of Commons.

Following designation of the Airports National Policy Statement, Heathrow Airport would be expected to submit a development consent application to the Planning Inspectorate.

As part of this process, the airport will have to consult with local communities on the detailed proposals of its scheme.

The Planning Inspectorate, taking on board representations from communities, will make a recommendation to the Secretary of State for Transport on whether planning consent should be granted for the Heathrow Northwest Runway scheme.

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This time last year, the government selected a new north-west runway at Heathrow as its preferred scheme for delivering much-needed new airport capacity in the south-east. This was a move made in the national interest – to spread the opportunity to travel and trade throughout the UK, through more flights between our global aviation hub and our regional airports.

In the last 12 months we have published a draft Airports National Policy Statement (NPS), and been listening to views through a major consultation exercise. We have also published a new National air quality plan and taken steps to address the impact of noise around our airports, which are set out below. Heathrow Airport themselves have been working with airlines to bring down the cost of the proposed scheme, in line with the ambition I set out to keep landing charges as close as possible to current levels. Now that the select committee has been reconstituted, we remain on track to bring forward a final Airports National Policy Statement for a vote in this House in the first half of next year.

Today (24 March 2017) I am publishing updated aviation demand forecasts which show that the need for additional runway capacity is even greater than originally thought. They show that all 5 of London’s main airports will be completely full by the mid-2030s, and 4 of them within a decade. Crucially, they also show us that the north-west runway scheme at Heathrow is the one which delivers the greatest benefits soonest. In addition, it continues to offer the greatest choice in terms of destinations and frequency of vital long-haul routes. Heathrow handles more freight by value than all other UK airports combined and it has superior connections to the rest of the UK through road, rail and domestic flights.

Today I am beginning a short period of consultation on the revised draft Airports NPS to allow people to consider these updated forecasts, alongside other new evidence which was unavailable at the time of the initial consultation. This includes the National air quality plan which was published in July 2017. Updated analysis of this shows that the Heathrow north-west runway scheme can be delivered without the UK breaching its air quality obligations. We will continue to ensure that if expansion goes ahead at Heathrow, it is delivered according to air quality obligations through a suitable package of mitigation and policy measures.

This period of consultation will focus on those elements of the draft Airports NPS affected by the updated evidence and will run for 8 weeks until 19th December. I have asked Sir Jeremy Sullivan to continue in his role as an independent adviser to oversee this process, and I am grateful to him for his work.

The revised draft Airports NPS has been laid in the library of the House and will also receive select committee scrutiny. The recommendations they make will be an important consideration as we move forward. As required by section 9(6) of the(Planning Act 2008, I am specifying a ‘relevant period’ for Parliamentary scrutiny. This will start today and end on 23 March 2018.

Alongside this, our work to develop a new aviation strategy will look beyond a potential new runway at Heathrow, and will set out an ambitious long-term vision for the sector, which will support economic growth across the whole of the UK. In addition to considering how we can make best use of existing capacity at all airports around the country, it will look at any future need for new capacity away from Heathrow, whilst tackling environmental impacts.

The impact of noise from aircraft is a national issue, and alongside the initial consultation on the draft Airports NPS, we also consulted on proposals to support modernisation of the way UK airspace is managed. Today I am also publishing the response to that consultation, and confirm we will be establishing a new independent noise body to ensure communities around our airports have a say in airspace changes which may affect them. Along with a new call-in power for the Secretary of State for Transport on airspace changes of national importance, this is designed to rebuild the trust lost in the industry by communities and provide democratic accountability for the most significant decisions.

In addition, the measures I am outlining today will enable us to make much greater use of new technology, giving us the ability to manage our airspace more effectively to tackle delays, cut emissions and reduce the need for stacking above our busiest airports. They will also help support the airspace changes we need in our skies to meet future demand – including a potential third runway at Heathrow.

Today’s announcement marks another important step as we work to ensure the UK has the connectivity we need right now to lead on the world stage.

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