Former transport secretary and Labour peer Andrew Adonis said construction on a third runway at Heathrow could begin as early as 2021.
Addressing delegates at this year’s ITT conference in Sicily just hours before the Cabinet approved plans, Lord Adonis estimated it could be complete by 2025-26.
He said there was very strong support among the majority of MPs, especially those outside of London, because Heathrow was “the vital lifeline” in terms of passengers and business.
“If it gets to Parliament in the next few months construction can start in 2021 and open in 2025 or 2026,” Lord Adonis said. “It doesn’t actually take long to build, it’s just a piece of tarmac.”
However, he said it was “essential” roads surrounding the airport did not have more traffic after expansion and called for a cordon charge to be levied.
Creating direct access for rail companies including Great Western Mainline and Southern Rail was “essential”, according to Lord Adonis.
“Once we have this piece of the jigsaw in place, connectivity of Heathrow will be transformed,” he added. “Capacity will rise by a quarter and its green credentials will be improved with the combination of a ban on night flights.
“Then we might have an airport which can compete with others in Europe.”
Lord Adonis said it was more vital than ever Britain had “first world” infrastructure after leaving the European Union next March if the government wanted to fulfil its ‘Global Britain’ policy.
“The irony is this might be the only piece of infrastructure that goes ahead because of Brexit. This is because the government’s mantra of ‘Global Britain’, the idea that when we leave the EU and sacrifice our trade deals (and we need to trade with other nations), we will need to get to these places.
“Our status as Heathrow having the world’s premier hub airport has already been sacrificed but you cannot have a strategy in this country for Global Britain if you can’t get to parts of the globe and crucially new markets in Asia and Latin America which other airports in Europe are already flying to.”
He described Brexit as the “biggest self-inflicted wound” since the Second World War and called for the final treaty to be referred to the public in a second referendum.