WE had been promised an interim report this autumn from the Davies Commission, which is an independent committee with the task of looking into airport capacity.

The review which was published on 17 December concludes that there is the need for an additional runway to come into operation in the south east of England by the year 2030.

This is important for my constituents in the Chesham & Amersham parliamentary constituency for two reasons.

First, like the whole of the surrounding areas, we are served by Heathrow Airport. Many people choose to travel from this airport for business and leisure purposes. A considerable number of local people also work there.

Second, it bears repeating that the Coalition government is intent on the HS2 project but we won’t discover until after the general election in 2015 what the Davies Commission is proposing vis-à-vis airport capacity. That’s a major component in the transport infrastructure and I think it again demonstrates that we need to have an over-arching transport policy rather than something that is cobbled together bit by bit, which isn’t the best way of ensuring a workable transport system with connectivity.

The interim Davies report says there should be one new runway and at the moment there are three options – one at Gatwick and two other alternatives at Heathrow. However the Conservative Party manifesto at the last general election did not favour a third runway at Heathrow.

There is compromise even in this shortlist of three possibilities because the Davies Commission says it will look in 2014 at the proposal for a hub airport in the Thames Estuary. It also says a second runway will be needed by 2050. The Commission says there is likely to be a case for considering expansion at Birmingham Airport as a “potential option”, with Stansted as an alternative contender.

Forgive me for saying I think that looking at Birmingham is a bit ironic in the context of what we are going through in Buckinghamshire because of the HS2 project!