Share your views - Heathrow night flights
Twelve councils - one voice on Heathrow
Update 11/06/07
Cabinet secretary Sir Gus O'Donnell has been asked to investigate claims that the Department for Transport has broken civil service rules by sharing vital air pollution data with BAA in advance of public consultation on plans for a third Heathrow runway. The 2M Group of local authorities has also called on Transport Minister Gillian Merron to release all the data from department’s secret and ironically named Sustainable Development of Heathrow study.
The study is the key to deciding whether a third runway can be built without exceeding environmental limits. The Government is expected to publish a consultation document later this year that will state that a third runway would, subject to certain conditions, pass the pollution and noise tests.
Councillor Nicholas Botterill, of H&F Council, speaking on behalf of the 2M group, said, "The public has a right to know what is going on. The air pollution work at Heathrow is being paid for with public money. Giving the results first to BAA just gives them a head start on everyone else. The Government now runs the risk that the results of its air pollution studies will be tainted. This will be a huge embarrassment for the DfT and further confirmation to the public of the lengths the department will go to in its efforts to 'prove' Heathrow can meet its air pollution targets. If ministers use these studies to justify pressing ahead with plans for a third runway they will almost certainly leave themselves wide open to challenge from environmental groups."
Update 07/03/07
Last week, H&F Council Leader, Cllr Stephen Greenhalgh, joined council leaders from twelve authorities across west London to launch the 2M group, an environmental alliance to defend the quality of life of two million west London residents against the unchecked expansion of Heathrow airport. The 12 member councils are not anti-Heathrow. They recognise the importance of air travel to the economy and to local people. But, they say, the government is not listening to residents’ concerns about the airport’s environmental impact.
“We need a balance between the economic benefits Heathrow brings and the costs to people’s quality of life and to the environment,” says Cllr Greenhalgh, “Constant night flights and the affect of expansion on air quality are issues local people care deeply about, but they feel their concerns are not being heard. By getting together, the twelve boroughs will have a louder voice, on your behalf, than any single authority alone. Night flights are simply anti-social and we need to stand up against the removal of the cap on night flights.”
The phograph below shows (back l-r) Geoff Howard (Slough); Edward Lister (Wandsworth); Stephen Greenhalgh (Hammersmith and Fulham); Chris Grayling (Shadow Secretary of State for Transport); Peter Hardy (South Bucks); Will Brooks (Ealing). and (front l-r): Barbara Reid (Hounslow); Lord Hanningfield (Shadow Transport Minister); Tariq Ahmad (Merton); Stephen Knight (Richmond upon Thames); Frances Taylor (Kensington and Chelsea)
For more information visit www.2MGroup.org.uk
Update 29/6/06
Heathrow night flight fight takes off
Hammersmith and Fulham Council has joined with other west London councils to lobby the government to take real action against the growing menace of night flights, which are set to get worse.
The Department for Transport is proposing to increase the number of night flights from 5,800 to 6,420.
In March the House of Lords voted, by a majority of 40, to defeat the key clause in the Civil Aviation Bill that allowed more night flights. MPs will vote on the Lords’ amendment today (Wednesday 28).
“We want to stop the removal of the cap on the number of Heathrow night flights,” says Cllr Greenhalgh, leader of Hammersmith & Fulham Council.
“The misery caused by sleep loss and the negative effect on people's health cannot be underestimated. Increasing the number of night flights will mean more noise and worse air quality, it’s one of the key environmental issues affecting west London today. “
Any additional flights are likely to take place between 4.30 – 6.00am which will inevitably have implications for people's sleep patterns. This is particularly relevant for residents in Fulham as most of the early morning flights into Heathrow fly over the south of the borough on their final approach to the airport.
“We want tough action on the growing menace of night flights. Residents in west London are entitled to a decent night's sleep and until we can get a complete ban, the cap on the number of night flights is the best safeguard we have against worsening noise pollution,” concludes Cllr Greenhalgh.
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