Overview
- Plans replace more than 20 existing lots with two multi‑storey parkways holding up to 36,000 vehicles, split 20,000 in the north and 16,000 in the south.
- A leaked briefing reported by The Times put £2.6bn against the parkways, implying more than £72,000 per space if taken as parking-only costs.
- Heathrow says the leak conflated budgets, estimating £1.3bn for the car parks themselves and allocating the remainder to new drop‑off areas, bus facilities and campus travel links.
- Parking specialists question the implied per‑space figure as far above normal benchmarks, with one consultant citing around £20,000 per space as typical.
- The car parks sit within a government‑approved expansion of about £49bn that includes a third runway, with a CAA decision on Heathrow’s long‑term charging model due this summer.