Conservative MPs have joined London mayor Boris Johnson in calling for the Davies commission into airport capacity to be speeded up.
Johnson took his case for a “Boris Island” airport in the Thames estuary to Sir Howard Davies, who is charged with reviewing government aviation capacity policy.
The mayor also voiced his opposition to a third runway at Heathrow.
Johnson has raised the prospect of a judicial review to force the government to publish the study before 2015.
A number of London MPs want the report to be delivered before the 2015 general election. Many hope the inquiry will rule out a third Heathrow runway for good.
“West Londoners can’t start living all over again under the blight of uncertainty,” Angie Bray, MP for Ealing Central and Acton, told the London Evening Standard.
“I would imagine that if minds are applied to it [the report] properly, it could certainly be done before we get to the next general election.”
Brentford and Isleworth MP Mary Macleod said: “I would rather go into the election with a definite view on what my party has decided is the future aviation strategy and how it affects Heathrow.”
The Department for Transport defended the timescale of the inquiry, which will see a shortlist of locations for expansion published next year.
A spokesman said: “History suggests that without an agreed evidence base and a high degree of political consensus, it will not be possible to deliver a lasting solution that is right for the UK.”
A poll for the Standard earlier in the week found nearly half of MPs strongly back or tend to support Heathrow expansion.
Heathrow’s owner will put forward its case for maintaining hub status at the west London airport today.
Chief executive Colin Matthews is expected to argue that splitting a hub between Heathrow and Gatwick – the so-called ‘Heathwick’ option – is not practical, and building up other airports as major hubs will not work either.
He will send the former BAA company’s report, called One Hub Or None, to the aviation commission heading by Sir Howard Davies, Sky News reported.