SUPPLEMENT
collaborative planning to prevent bottlenecks during expansion. Heathrow’s management
insist
the engineering solutions are
deliverable. CEO Thomas Woldbye has accepted that moving the M25 is unavoidable under the proposed layout but argued the work could be managed with “minimal disruption”, while stressing the airport is “operating at capacity” and needs the runway to protect trade and connectivity. Operators remain sceptical:
reconfiguring the
motorway and its junctions — including any temporary closure or lane reductions — risks triggering sharper queuing at cargo-village access points, longer turnaround times for freight vehicles and higher operating costs for forwarders and hauliers. Environmental and planning experts add another layer of friction.
Professor Chris Hilson of the University of Reading has cautioned that policy and environmental tests remain crucial to any expansion, noting that the Airports National Policy Statement will be reviewed to ensure climate and air-quality obligations are met. Any timeframe slippage in achieving legal and environmental clearances would cascade into construction scheduling and therefore into road- access phasing - a particular worry for time-sensitive cargo chains such as pharmaceuticals and high-value perishables. At ground level, smaller haulage firms and logistics providers will
feel the immediate pinch. Public company records show firms such as Lisu Transport Ltd among the many small and medium haulage businesses that operate in the wider London-Heathrow supply chain; while not a headline name, such companies typify the local road- freight community that depends on predictable access, short queues and stable operating hours. A reworked M25 and altered junction
priorities could change routeing economics for these operators, increase mileage, and raise emissions - factors that will matter as the cargo estate modernises and looks to introduce smarter freight management systems. Mitigation will require detailed, sequenced planning and
enforceable commitments. Key measures that stakeholders are urging include: ring-fenced freight lanes during peak construction windows; dedicated diversion routes for HGVs with real-time traffic management; guaranteed access hours for cargo collections and deliveries; and a phased programme of works aligned to cargo estate modernisation so that capacity improvements inside the cargo village are synchronised with temporary losses on approach roads. Heathrow’s cargo community has already selected improved digital information systems intended to smooth flows - but successful deployment hinges on co-ordinated traffic management across national and local highways authorities.
International freight solutions In short, the third-runway decision resolves one strategic question but amplifies a series of operational ones. If ministers, Heathrow and the freight community cannot translate high-level commitments into granular, enforceable access arrangements, the cargo village risks becoming a choke point rather than a modernised hub. As BIFA put it, solving “age-old problems” of congestion will require meaningful collaboration - and the sooner that begins, the fewer shocks businesses and supply chains will biggest hub airport is rebuilt beneath the motorway.
face while Britain’s
“These plans must now move
from the drawing board to delivery as quickly as possible to
unlock the full benefits for the economy.”
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