East Twickenham lies beneath key flight paths from Heathrow, which is pressing ahead with plans to expand
Residents of a South West London neighbourhood have spoken out against Heathrow’s plans to expand, saying it will cause them more noise and pollution.
People living and working in East Twickenham say if the airport is allowed to build a third runway nearby it will mean more flights overhead and more disturbance for locals.
Heathrow Airport Limited, which owns the airport, is preparing proposals to build a new 3,500-metre northwest runway, which would require moving the M25.
The Government is considering feedback to its new blueprint for the proposed third runway, known as the draft Heathrow expansion national policy statement (HENPS), which would guide any future planning decisions on expansion.
The draft HENPS sets out four tests the proposed expansion would have to meet to go ahead, involving contributing to economic growth and meeting legal climate obligations, air quality requirements and noise commitments.
It has attracted fierce opposition from local councils and MPs over concerns it does not go far enough to protect residents from increased noise, pollution and congestion.
Residents and businesses in East Twickenham told the Local Democracy Reporting Service (LDRS) they felt expanding Heathrow was illogical. The neighbourhood is among those affected by aircraft noise when planes take off to the east, as it lies beneath key flight paths.
Janis Mednis, 51, who runs And More Store on Richmond Road, and previously lived in the area, said locals were generally opposed to the expansion as it would bring “more noise and more pollution”.
Janis said: “It’s affecting everyone, plus the prices for the properties are going to go down.”
He added: “It’s better for the economy but then, on the other hand, it’s affecting locals.”
A Heathrow spokesperson told the LDRS it took its responsibilities as a neighbour seriously and was committed to engaging with local communities.
They said 57 per cent of residents in Twickenham supported expansion in the airport’s latest polling from January to April this year.
Douglas, 64, and Claire, 57, said that while the exact impact of any expansion of Heathrow on East Twickenham had yet to be confirmed, they were not in favour of the proposals and felt expanding Gatwick Airport, which is in a less densely populated area, was more logical. However there are plans to increase Gatwick’s operations as well as Heathrow’s, with London City Airport pressing ahead with its own expansion.
Claire said: “I think that certainly, from our perspective, I don’t think we’re huge fans of the expansion and I believe it’s going to involve quite a lot of reclaiming of populated land, which we would not really be particularly in favour with, and feel that probably it would be more logical for it to be at Gatwick and not at Heathrow.”
She added: “For us, because we’re not sure what the flight paths will be, we’re not quite sure what it will do to overhead noise, but from a more general perspective, I think it would make more logical sense in Gatwick.”
Gatwick won permission to expand in September last year, which means it will move its northern runway to allow dual runway operations. At the moment its northern runway acts as an emergency runway in the event the main one is out of action. However the airport in West Sussex wants to have both fully operational
Philip Jeffrey, from the East Twickenham Heathrow Campaign, said Heathrow’s proposed expansion failed to meet the tests set out in the HENPS, as he described the plans as a “disaster for air quality and the environment”.
He told the LDRS residents were concerned about expansion as their quality of life would decline due to the impact on noise and air quality, all to “pursue this fantasy that it’s going to somehow boost the UK economy”.
Philip said the cost of expansion would be “hundreds of thousands of Londoners have to put up with noise and air quality downgrades – it’s not acceptable”.
He said: “Once you get involved in it, you realise that you’re not just arguing about the good of the residents of East Twickenham. The air quality issue is far, far greater.
“Hundreds of thousands of people are affected by the damage that planes do to air quality and there’s a real serious risk that the gains that have been made in London over the last few years… will get lost if we keep on putting more and more planes in the air.”
In a new letter to Prime Minister Andy Burnham, Twickenham MP Munira Wilson said there was growing evidence showing the economic case for expansion had “crumbled”.
The Lib Dem MP said the HENPS had downgraded the Government’s previous projections expansion would deliver 0.43 per cent of GDP growth to 0.05 per cent. She said this growth would be concentrated in London and the South East, at the expense of regional economies.
Ms Wilson also said the appraisal of sustainability supporting the HENPS argued the scheme would deliver major adverse social, environmental and economic effects.
She wrote: “Despite the previous Prime Minister and Chancellor’s insistence, the evidence shows that Heathrow expansion will not deliver what has been promised. I would urge you to follow the evidence, and listen to the voices of local communities, and drop support for the scheme.”
However, Rod Peel, 79, who has lived locally for 13 years, said he was not concerned about Heathrow expansion as he felt it “brings benefits to the whole country”.
Richmond Council has long expressed opposition to Heathrow’s plans to expand, and recently joined the leaders of Wandsworth, Kingston, Hillingdon, Southwark, Sutton and Windsor and Maidenhead councils to renew their opposition to the proposals.
In a letter to Transport Secretary Heidi Alexander, the council leaders said they do not accept a third runway “is either necessary or acceptable when the consequences for Londoners and neighbouring communities remain so profound and unresolved”.
They called on the Government to properly consider alternatives – including better use of existing airport capacity, improved train links and a shift from domestic flights to rail.
The letter was signed by council leaders Gareth Roberts, Robert Morritt, Andreas Kirsch, Steve Tuckwell, James McAsh, Barry Lewis and Simon Werner.
A Heathrow spokesperson told the LDRS: “We take our responsibility as a neighbour seriously and we are committed to engaging openly and constructively to understand the concerns local communities have.
“We have always been clear expansion can only go ahead if it meets legally binding targets on noise, air quality and carbon and we’ve already made significant progress in shrinking noise contours and incentivising airlines to operate the quietest and cleanest aircraft at Heathrow.
“Recent polling shows a majority of local people support expansion as they recognise the thousands of jobs and opportunities for local businesses the project will deliver. We invite our local community to share their thoughts as part of our third expansion consultation, due to launch later on this year.”
A vote is expected to be held in Parliament on the HENPS by the end of the year, if the Government decides to move ahead with it after reviewing feedback to the consultation.
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