The biggest airport expansion for 60 years will be approved today when the Government gives the go-ahead to a £9 billion third runway and sixth terminal at Heathrow.

Ministers will attempt to appease environmental groups by pledging that the extra runway capacity will be linked to tough new emissions standards for aircraft. Only airlines that buy the most fuel-efficient aircraft will be granted additional slots.

However, the aviation industry is already committed to introducing more efficient aircraft and the runway is likely to be heavily used as soon as it opens in 2019 or 2020. An extra 600 flights a day will pass over London and tens of thousands of extra cars will add to congestion on roads near the airport, including the M4 and M25.

More than 2,000 people will lose their homes when the village of Sipson is demolished and thousands more will be forced to live within a few hundred yards of the new runway.

Times Archive, 1946: Heathrow now in use

A big crowd were at the new London airport today to see the first civil aeroplane take off from the 3,000-yard main runway

• In pictures: New London airport opened

• Leading article: London's Airport

• Heathrow to be enlarged

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The number of passengers using Heathrow is predicted almost to double to 116 million a year within a few years of the runway opening.

The Government will also promise a new high-speed rail link between London and the North, with a link from St Pancras in Central London to Heathrow. However, planning for the line is at a very early stage and ministers are unlikely to give a clear financial commitment. It would not be open until 2027 at the earliest. The final go-ahead in government came last night after Gordon Brown finally succeeded in heading off Cabinet opposition with the environmental safeguards.

Geoff Hoon, the Transport Secretary, will tell the Commons today that plans to have the new runway built between 2015 and 2020 are to proceed, opening the way for a lengthy legal battle. Government insiders dubbed the plan “Green Heathrow” last night, but that is not how it will be seen by environmental campaigners when the details emerge.

The airport will expand northwards towards the M4 and new flight paths will be created over West London and Berkshire.

The Prime Minister has overruled opposition from more than 50 backbench Labour MPs and concerns expressed by several members of the Cabinet, including Ed Miliband, Hilary Benn and Harriet Harman.

They had argued that the expansion of Heathrow was incompatible with the Government’s pledge to reduce carbon dioxide emissions by 80 per cent by 2050.

There are also concerns that the expansion will breach European limits on air quality due to come into force in 2015.

Mr Hoon will pledge that flights will not be allowed to increase if there was any risk of the limits being breached and he is considering appointing an independent commission to monitor air quality and noise levels at Heathrow.

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