Residents don’t want Heathrow expansion
NOW that Heathrow have stated they wish to have a smaller form of expansion before trying yet again for a third runway at a later date, we must remind them that any increase in the limit on flight numbers – currently set at 480,000 per year – is not desired or thought necessary by so many people who live around the airport and beyond.
Heathrow is the largest single polluter in the United Kingdom and the second largest polluting airport in the world, according to the International Council on Clean Transportation.
It is also the world’s most disruptive airport, located in an area of dense population with over 750,000 people affected by its noisy operations.
Economically, the Government’s own figures suggest that once environmental costs are considered, Heathrow’s benefit to the wider economy would be minimal and possibly even negative.
Any additional capacity might be facilitated by the introduction of mixed mode, allowing planes to arrive and depart on the same runway.
Previous estimates suggest this could permit an additional 60,000 aircraft movements per year – but this would remove the half day’s respite that switching runways currently provides for those who live under Heathrow’s flight paths.
Heathrow could also revitalise plans from the past, asking for 25,000 additional flights which could be achieved by redesigning flight paths.
Whatever it intends to do to expand, we shall oppose. Heathrow is big enough.
Whether it’s by tens or hundreds of thousands of extra flights per year, Heathrow expansion is unconscionable, unenvironmental and unnecessary – especially when so many existing flights have so many empty seats.
Justine Bayley Chair, Stop Heathrow Expansion