Esher and Walton MP Ian Taylor explained this week why he supported the Government’s announcement to give the go-ahead to a third runway at Heathrow airport.

The Tory MP broke ranks with his party’s official line last week when he offered his support for the scheme.

Mr Taylor said: "The decision to build the third runway at Heathrow is emotive. At a time when global warming is at the forefront of many governments’ agendas, instinctive resistance to the plans is understandable.”

However, the MP said he believed the coverage of the runway had focused too heavily on the “perceived environmental disadvantage” of it, overlooking other “balancing environmental factors, as well as valid practical and economic” advantages.

"Heathrow is a fixture and important for the south-east economy as well as that of the rest of the country,” he said. “Therefore, it needs to be efficient, and on that basis I welcome the Government’s decision to allow the building of a third runway and to increase public transport access.”

Mr Taylor said the long-term approach should be to invest in technological advances in aviation in terms of both emissions quality and noise reduction.

“We need to increase scientific research to develop environmentally sound aero-engines and aircraft design,” he said. "For both good and ill, Heathrow will continue to be the major British airport. There are no real alternatives.”