The ASA has ruled that an advertisement regarding Heathrow’s planned third runway is misleading.

A complaint has been upheld by the Advertising Standards Authority (ASA) regarding a regional advertisement by BAA and Future Heathrow, which stated a third runway at Heathrow would not make it any dirtier or noisier.

Only one complaint was received by the ASA regarding the ad, from an MP who challenged the ad’s claim that “a third runway won’t make Heathrow any noisier or dirtier” and “… it won’t get the green light unless local air quality meets stringent EU standards on concentrations of nitrogen dioxide”.

Both points were investigated by the ASA, which concluded that the two points could be misleading to public. For example, the first claim could be taken as being ‘absolute fact’ while the second point was not clear enough and again, could be misleading.

BAA officially responded to the ASA’s conclusion regarding Future Heathrow’s ad. However, a spokesman for Future Heathrow told the BBC that a third runway would not be allowed if it made the airport noisier or dirtier: “Over the last six years, the government has repeatedly stated that a third runway would have to meet specific environmental conditions.

“In particular, it would have to result in a Heathrow noise footprint no larger than with two runways in 2002, and that concentrations of nitrogen dioxide around Heathrow would have to be within the future EU limit.”

Jamie, a blogger on Greenpeace’s website, commented on the ASA’s decision: “They’ve been told not to run the ad again. While this is immensely satisfying, I do feel that it’s akin to a horse/stable door timing problem. More people will have seen the advert than will become aware of the ASA’s ruling. Even so, after other previous slapped wrists over misleading adverts, the aviation industry will have to mind its language more carefully.”

The ad was printed in regional newspapers before the third runway at Heathrow airport was approved by the UK Government in January this year. The development is expected to create around 8,000 new jobs by 2030, while its construction will create 60,000 jobs alone.