HEATHROW expansion will be “reckless and unlawful,” campaigners warned yesterday as the government launched its official consultation on the project.

The government said it was asking the public’s views as part of a 16-week consultation.

But an independent impact assessment suggested the project cannot go ahead unless it can be delivered within current air quality and climate change laws, and that there is currently “a risk” that building a third runway “will delay compliance.”

Greenpeace said the assessment had concluded that air pollution targets would not be undermined because there would be a significant reduction in toxic car emissions, but that this was “speculative.”

“With an air pollution crisis already linked to over 9,000 premature deaths a year in London alone, people’s health cannot be dependent on rose-tinted assumptions and a notoriously unreliable car industry,” Greenpeace UK director John Sauven said.

“It’s time for ministers to come clean. They don’t have a solution to the extra emissions from a third runway that will cause more air pollution and climate change. Going ahead with this project would be reckless and unlawful.”

Trade unions have largely given their backing to the expansion due to the potential for new jobs at the site.

General union GMB London region secretary Warren Kenny said: “This consultation has got to be the final round in this long-running saga.

“The government, Heathrow and the airlines have got to come up with workable plans to ensure that noise and air pollution issues are properly addressed.

“At the same time government need to keep under review expansion at other airports in the south east including Gatwick.”