Controversial plans for a third runway at Heathrow Airport are set to be approved by ministers later after years of argument and delay.

The economic sub-committee, chaired by Theresa May, is expected to sign off the plans, then send them to full cabinet.

If backed, MPs would be asked to vote on the issue in the coming weeks.

The government backs expansion, despite opposition from local residents and key political figures like Boris Johnson.

Foreign Secretary Mr Johnson, who is MP for Uxbridge and South Ruislip in west London, has vowed to “lie down in front of bulldozers” to prevent it.

Campaigners argue that a new runway will breach the UK’s legal limits on air pollution and increase noise pollution with an extra 700 planes a day – last year they failed to have the decision declared unlawful.

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Despite supporting expansion, Slough Borough Council has criticised the plans that will see a school and a local trading estate demolished, as well as homes in Longford, Harmondsworth and Sipson.

If the plan is backed by the cabinet, Transport Secretary Chris Grayling could come forward with the statement later this week, possibly immediately, the BBC’s Political Editor Laura Kuenssberg said.

It has to be voted upon no later than 21 sitting days after its publication.

Ministers have accepted the recommendations of a 2015 review into airport capacity in the south-east of England.

This concluded that building a third runway at Heathrow offered the greatest economic benefits – as long as it was accompanied by a package of measures to address its environmental and community impacts.

A draft national airports statement was approved by ministers in October setting out the conditions for its approval.

Parliament must approve the revised statement, which has since been subject to a public consultation, to allow the planning process to move onto detailed work.

Mr Johnson has long been opposed to Heathrow expansion on both economic and environmental grounds.

Other critics include former education secretary Justine Greening, who represents a London constituency, and shadow chancellor John McDonnell – homes in his Hayes and Harlington constituency could be demolished under the plans.

‘Right for UK PLC’

John Glen, Economic Secretary to the Treasury and City Minister, told BBC Radio 4’s Today programme that he supports the proposals.

He said: “It is right that the government has looked at all the dimensions of it, all the concerns around the environmental effect, but from the perspective of UK PLC we need to expand our capacity and this is the right thing to do.”

But ex-transport minister Theresa Villiers told BBC Breakfast it was going to be “another quite difficult day” for her colleague, Mr Grayling – who has faced criticism over the performance of the rail network since timetable changes came into force last month.

The Conservative MP raised concerns about the “huge noise impact” the third runway would have, as well as the “very real impact” on air quality.

But she added that, even if the government wins the backing of parliament, it would be “just one stage in a very long process… of the planning system”, and that we “still won’t know with any certainty for some time to come whether a third runway will be built.”

‘There will be howls’

Analysis by Laura Kuenssberg, BBC political editor

Yes, the decades-long debate about airports in Britain is returning (it’s never gone for long) just at a time when the government is embroiled in rows it will struggle to win. As one cabinet minister joked, “it’s the gift that keeps on giving”.

However, with only Boris Johnson having big doubts around the cabinet table, the real rumpus will be in the Parliamentary Tory Party.

Plenty of Tory MPs have long held objections to Heathrow and they will be made loudly on the backbenches in the weeks to come. The government doesn’t have a majority and remember, it wants to get this plan through the Commons by the end of the month.

If they can, it will be a demonstration of “look, we are getting on with things, it’s not just Brexit!”

There will be howls, and the process even after this likely vote is a very long one. But the government can expect to get the vote through. Even if Labour opposes it, which it may well do on environmental grounds, the party is also split on the merits of the project so might not all vote together.

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Labour has said expanded capacity is vital to the UK economy but its support is conditional on tests being met on capacity, climate change, noise and air quality, as well as the wider economic benefits.

But there is also a split in opinion in the party when it comes to individual MPs.

Mike Gapes, Labour MP for Ilford South, said the economic case for the runway is clear and consecutive governments had been “dithering and delaying for more than 20 years”.

He told Today: “I think that we have to be realists here. If we don’t make the decision, if we carry on delaying, we are going to damage our economy and our prosperity for the whole of the UK.”

But his colleague Ruth Cadbury, Labour MP for Brentford and Isleworth – near to Heathrow – claimed a recent report from the transport select committee showed “the value for money wasn’t there”.

She said: “Regions away from London will lose long haul flights, will lose connectivity to London and will also lose by implication because [they] will lose their additional transport investment.”

Heathrow’s owners say a new runway would cost £14bn and increase its capacity from 85.5 million to 130 million passengers. It is hoped it would be operational between 2025 and 2030.