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The government will not be coughing up any public cash to fund the £14bn expansion of Heathrow Airport, a transport minister has reiterated.

Replying to a written question from anti-expansion MP Zac Goldsmith, newly appointed transport minister Michael Ellis said the government was certain it would not be required to chip in funding to carry out the project.

West London Tory MP Goldsmith, who quit as an MP in 2016 over the government's support for the expansion, re-entering Parliament the following year and whose Richmond Park constituency he has previously said "will bear the brunt of plane noise from Heathrow", asked transport secretary Chris Grayling whether public money will be used to bankroll the job.

Ellis said: "The government is clear that the Northwest Runway scheme [the third runway] at Heathrow will be financed in its entirety by the private sector.

"The government and its independent expert advisers concluded that, so far as can be assessed at this early stage of the process, Heathrow Airport Limited is able to privately finance expansion without government support."

Ellis added that the Airports Commission had also concluded the scheme could be funded without government support.

Last month a High Court challenge against the government’s decision to approve plans for a third runway at London’s Heathrow airport failed.

In a statement on the government’s website, Grayling said of 26 grounds brought against the plan, all were dismissed, with 21 of the 26 not even held to be arguable. 

The councils of five London boroughs, residents, environmental charities and London mayor Sadiq Khan brought the action after MPs backed the plans in June last year.