The White Paper has five main objectives. First, to establish a framework against which over an extended period airport developments throughout Great Britain should be considered; secondly, to assess the future demand for air transport and thus for airport capacity; thirdly, to explain how demand might be met during the period to 1990; fourthly, to examine the noise and other environmental effects of airport developments; and finally, to outline the airport options to be considered for the longer term.

I need not, for this audience, outline the history of airport development in Great Britain over the past 30 years. The approach to the South East problem which was characterised by efforts to find the grand solution; the failure to consider the requirements of the South East within a wider national context; and the absence of any proper guidance for the development of airports outside the South East with the consequent over provision of facilities in the regions which we face today.