Heathrow consultation must not ignore borough residents

Heathrow bosses have once again been warned not to ignore residents in Hammersmith & Fulham (H&F) after they failed to plan a public exhibition in the borough.

Heathrow bosses have once again been warned not to ignore residents in Hammersmith & Fulham (H&F) after they failed to plan a public exhibition in the borough as part of their latest consultation linked to a proposed third runway.

Airport chiefs have launched a new public consultation on suggested compensation packages relating to their airport expansion proposals. However, none of the 17 exhibition events organised by Heathrow bosses take place in H&F – the nearest being held in Richmond, Brentford and Hanwell.

The leader of H&F Council, Councillor Stephen Cowan, has contacted the chief executive of Heathrow Airport urging him to immediately correct this “unacceptable oversight”.

The same mistake was made during the last series of public consultation events – with the council eventually persuading Heathrow’s chief executive to organise an additional exhibition in Hammersmith Town Hall.

Cllr Cowan said: “It’s incredibly disappointing to see airport chiefs repeat past mistakes by yet again failing to plan a consultation event in our borough.

“I am calling on Heathrow’s chief executive to correct this unacceptable oversight and organise a public exhibition in H&F so residents are given the opportunity to fully take part in this latest consultation and tell Heathrow bosses what they think of their proposals.

“They simply cannot ignore the fact that thousands of H&F residents are affected by plane noise – a situation that would obviously get much worse if airport expansion was ever allowed.

“The council stands firmly against a third runway at Heathrow, and we will always stand up for residents when we feel they are not being treated with the respect they deserve.”

Borough residents are not covered by the current compensation scheme run by Heathrow Airport Ltd, which offers some households under its flightpaths access to things like noise insulation grants and other measures to help combat noise nuisance.

H&F Council has long-argued that this scheme is inadequate and that residents in the borough should be entitled to compensation.

The Airport’s latest consultation seeks views on the principles that should inform its property and noise compensation schemes for residents that may be affected by its proposed expansion.

You can have your say by taking part in the consultation online. It runs until 12 October.

If you would like to request a hard copy of the consultation booklet or talk about Heathrow Airport Ltd’s proposals in more detail, call 0800 307 7996 or email communityrelations@heathrow.com.

The Davies Commission included Heathrow on its shortlist of options for additional runway capacity in the UK at the start of this year and will make its final recommendation to the Government in 2015.

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