Andrew Adonis once told me that the third runway at Heathrow would never be built because the airport is surrounded by housing: 30 per cent of homes in the whole of Europe affected by aircraft noise louder than 55 decibels are around Heathrow.
This was after he had been transport secretary in the last Labour government, when he was trying to get it built, so he knew what he was talking about. He thought there were just too many votes too close to the airport to make it a viable option.
