Heathrow says it has listened to local Stanwell opposition, and will not re-locate an incinerator there
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Existing location of Grundon’s Colnbook incinerator (red) and new proposed location (black circle)
The Heathrow airport press release is at
Campaigners welcome Heathrow’s plans to move incinerator
With the new 15-mile ‘green ring’ around Stanwell, plans are afoot for a park, all-weather sports pitch and new flood defenses
Heathrow Airport has announced plans to move an incinerator away from Stanwell [where to??] and create a 15 mile ‘green ring’ around the town.
The airport said it altered its plans after residents raised concerns over its plans to relocate its incinerator to the Bedfont Road area.
A Labour county councillor however has said it is like moving pieces around a chess board.
Stanwell and Stanwell Moor councillor Robert Evans said: “I welcome very much the changes and that is due to the pressure put on BAA by me and the Labour party.
“But local resident Andrew McLuskey has done all the hard work.
“But in saying that, we are still battling away to stop expansion happening at Heathrow at all.
“There are still serious reservations and I don’t believe an expansion of the airport is right for the area or the whole country.
“We are talking semantics here – it’s a big expansion in a very cramped area. It’s like moving pieces around a chess board – whatever we don’t like around Stanwell will be just as massive somewhere else.”
Changes to the plans include introducing a 15 mile ‘green corridor’ which will increase the amount of recreational space between the town and a new car park south to the airport – which has also been reduced in size.
A new park and an all-weather sports pitch is being mooted for the area, as well as the potential building of ‘balancing ponds’ to help control the release of floodwater.
Roberto Tambini, chief executive of Spelthorne Borough Council, said: “We are delighted that Heathrow has listened to and acted upon our feedback in creating its updated expansion plans and that the residents of Spelthorne have been offered an improved deal as a result.
“I am sure that we can work together and that Heathrow will continue to listen to Spelthorne residents and demonstrate a flexible approach to future proposals.”
Some of the £16 billion of private money being invested will also be used to support the Environment Agency in developing flood prevention schemes to protect homes and property in the surrounding areas.
The airport has also announced plans to fund a new bypass to replace the existing A3044 at Colnbrook and Poyle to ease congestion issues.
John Holland-Kaye, chief executive of Heathrow said: “The expansion of Heathrow can bring significant benefits for local people as well as the UK economy.
“As well as bringing 50,000 new jobs and 10,000 apprenticeships, we can also improve the environmental landscape around the airport and mitigate some of today’s problems including road congestion and flooding. We continue to improve our plans based on the feedback we receive.”
The Airports Commission is currently assessing the case for expansion of either Heathrow or Gatwick.
Heathrow Airport’s consultation process is still on-going and those wishing to comment should contact the airport by email on communityrelations@heathrow.com.
http://www.getsurrey.co.uk/incoming/campaigners-welcome-heathrows-plans-move-8036656
Also:
Revised plans for Heathrow expansion revealed
Larger version of map at http://mediacentre.heathrowairport.com/imagelibrary/downloadmedia.ashx?MediaDetailsID=2698&SizeId=-1A local resident comments:
The incinerator (Energy from Waste plant) is shown close to the M25/M4 interchange and due west of what remains of Harmondsworth. The previous air quality modelling showed Harmondsworth receptors suffering the highest increases in NO2 levels from the extra runway operations (perhaps around 6ug/m3 increase in the annual average compared with a base case). Will moving the incinerator closer to them make that worse ?
Earlier:
Concerns raised at Stanwell meeting on Heathrow expansion plans for incinerator, flood pit and car park
Proposals for a new flood pit, car park and incinerator in Stanwell as part of Heathrow’s expansion plans were lambasted by over 60 residents at a public meeting on 15th September. The meeting focused on issues surrounding a car park dominating the biodiversity area north of the village hall and west of Oaks Road, an incinerator in the Bedfont Road area and a flood pit in Stanwell Moor. The feeling was that residents are not against progress, not against air travel, but they do not want unsuitable developments in the borough. Spelthorne already has one of the highest rates of deaths attributable to air pollution in the South East. Residents fear the effects of the polluted water from Heathrow being stored in the flood pit, especially after the problems with flooding this spring. Jonathan Deegan, chief planner at Heathrow, said: “All this has to go somewhere.” A resident asked why past promises were allowed to be broken, including an inspector who had said in a consultation meeting that Terminal 4 would be the last terminal. Nigel Milton, director of policy and political relations for Heathrow, said: “The people who made those promises weren’t in a position to make these promises.” So any promises could be broken again then?
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Earlier:
Heathrow 3rd runway would mean demolishing Colnbrook incinerator and relocating it – maybe to Stanwell?
The Heathrow airport plan for a 3rd runway to the north-west of the airport, demolishing most of Harmondsworth and making Sipson impossible to live in, also demolishes the current incinerator at Colnbrook, run by Grundon. In Heathrow’s expansion plans they propose that a new incinerator should be built just south of the airport, in Stanwell -between Long Lane and Stanwell Farm. This is, at best, controversial. Residents are concerned about the prospect of an incinerator so close to their homes and with the spectre of the eco-park in Shepperton also looming, questions of just how much Spelthorne can take are being asked. The hope it, by advocates of locating a new incinerator there, that the prevailaing wind from the west would blow any pollution away from Stanwell, and towards the east or north east. Incinerators are unpopular in most areas, as people fear not only dioxins in air pollution, but also the associated heavy traffic from lorries. People in Spelthorne are not convinced they want to host two large incinerators.
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Location of Colnbrook incinerator at present (red) and new proposed location (black circle)
Approximate location of the proposed new incinerator, in Stanwell (AirportWatch map)
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December 2013:
Kathy Croft, chairman of the Stanwell Moor Residents’ Association, said:
“We were told when they [Heathrow] built the fourth terminal ‘that would be it’, then they wanted another. When that was built they started pushing for a third runway.
“If this third runway is built it will include a sixth terminal.”
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