1st April. “Heathrow in secret plan to compulsory purchase Sunbury Golf Course for housing”
Unfortunately the story below was an April Fools joke.
Howewer, the number of homes to be demolished (783), the number of homes Heathrow has had to offer to buy (3,750), the shortage of land to build houses in areas around Heathrow, are all accurate and true. So is the absence of any plan to move those who will have their homes compulsorily purchased to alternative sites, let alone to move people as a community.
Harmondsworth and Longford residents, who are facing the bulldozers if Heathrow’s north-west runway goes ahead, could be offered new homes on Sunbury Golf Course. Heathrow Airport Ltd are understood to have been in negotiation for the compulsory purchase of the golf centre site, that includes a popular 6,000-yard course. MPs and local authorities around Heathrow have expressed concern about the housing crisis in London and the South East, and the necessity to re-house those currently living in the 783 homes that will be destroyed. In addition Heathrow has offered to buy up 3,750 houses that will become almost uninhabitable due to the noise and air pollution. These people also need to be found new homes. Heathrow bosses have been looking at possible solutions, wishing to be fair to local communities and foster community cohesion.They have therefore been in covert discussions with neighbouring councils during the past 6 months, to find suitable sites for the relocation of the villagers. Spelthorne Council, a strong supporter of a Heathrow 3rd runway, has played an important behind-the-scenes role in this search. Sunbury Golf Course site provides the ideal location. The planning process for this major project is expected to be fast-tracked so that initial work can begin this autumn.
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Heathrow in secret plan to compulsory purchase Sunbury Golf Course for housing
1.4.2015 (SHE – Stop Heathrow Expansion)
April Fools joke …. sadly Heathrow is not being this proactive … nor is there any such attractive solution …
Harmondsworth and Longford residents facing the Heathrow bulldozers could be offered new homes on Sunbury Golf Course if a secret plan goes ahead. Heathrow Airport Ltd are understood to have held negotiations with the Secretary of State, on compulsory purchase of the golf centre site that includes a popular 6,000-yard course.
MPs and local authorities around Heathrow have expressed concern that the housing crisis in London and the South East has become a major election issue and could mean that expansion at Heathrow in undeliverable.
The Airports Commission, which has been given the task of assessing the rival runway plans of Heathrow and Gatwick airports, will make its recommendation this summer on where a new south east runway should be built. The announcement is expected by the end of June., The Commission considers that a minimum of 783 homes would be destroyed if Heathrow builds the proposed north west runway, although anti-expansion campaigners claim that the initial figure will be 289 higher.
Harmondsworth village centre
In December 2014, immediately prior to Sir Howard Davies holding a consultation event in Sipson, Heathrow announced that it would offer to buy up to 3,750 properties in villages to the north of airport, which are likely to be severely affected by aircraft noise and pollution. The village of Longford would be completely destroyed, while Harmondsworth would be reduced to a few homes, a church and an historical barn.
The remaining villages of Sipson and Harlington would be severely affected by noise and pollution. Heathrow says it will buy these homes from current residents and fit soundproofing before, before renting them out to airport workers at market value. This happened, but without the soundproofing, to 238 homes in Sipson and Harmondsworth that were purchased by the airport in 2010.
Discussions are now taking place to see if the occupants of the homes to be compulsorily purchased could be re-housed within the M25.
Fearing that the Airports Commission has concerns about the impact on community cohesion of the mass demolitions and the lack of suitable affordable housing in the area for those displaced, Heathrow bosses have been looking at possible solutions. Heathrow has expressed its wish to be fair to local communities,and have raised the issue of community cohesion.
The impact on community cohesion, caused by the mass demolitions and the lack of suitable affordable housing in the areas for those displaced, were raised in submissions to the Airports Commission consultation, that ended on 3rd February. Heathrow bosses have been looking at possible solutions and now acknowledge it will be necessary to create entirely new villages within nearby boroughs, to accommodate those displaced.
April Fools joke …. sadly Heathrow is not being this proactive … nor is there any such attractive solution …
Heathrow has been in covert discussions with neighbouring councils during the past 6 months, to find suitable sites for the relocation of the villagers. While some areas south of Heathrow have been ruled out due to planned changes in the road network to accommodate the increased traffic from the extended coach station and freight depot, Laleham, Ashford and Shepperton are thought to be still under consideration. Surrey Future, a group that brings together Surrey’s local authorities and business leaders, has already revealed that it has been working with the Airports Commission to find solutions that will lead to a recommendation favouring Heathrow expansion.
Spelthorne Council, a strong supporter of a Heathrow 3rd runway, has played an important behind-the-scenes role in this search. It is believed that council officials suggested Heathrow’s current publicity slogan, “Those living around us are behind us” as a means of countering any resistance to development plans.
Spelthorne is currently consulting on the borough’s housing strategy, which includes a warning that in a borough that because it is 17% water and 65% Green Belt, no site is totally safe from housing development. The borough needs to build at least 160 homes a year until 2026, even without the need to rehouse those displaced by building another Heathrow runway. The Airports Commission states that the lure of new airport-related jobs will bring 70,000 people into the area, who Spelthorne hopes to welcome.
After deciding that Sunbury Golf Course site provides the ideal location to satisfy angry residents forced to relocate from the Heathrow Villages, Spelthorne Conservative Councillors have formed a partnership with designers employed by the Chinese Sovereign Wealth Fund, co-owners of Heathrow. They have been working in secret to build a replica copy of Harmondsworth and Longford to illustrate to the Secretary of State the feasibility and desirability of the plans. And to make the new residents feel more at home.
A source working within the partnership, who asked not be named, said “Heathrow will be making a substantial profit for its shareholders once a third runway is built so spending £5 billion on housing in Spelthorne is no problem. We aim to focus on the positives like more jobs in hospitality and construction, faster roads and more flights to India and China. Everyone will be a winner, even those losing their communities and old buildings will get a new purpose-built estate. There could be funding from the EU Infrastructure Asset Investment Trust to help with the cost, so that will reduce the cost to British taxpayers”.
The planning process for this major project is expected to be fast-tracked so that initial work can begin this autumn. The Sunbury Golf Clubhouse will be commandeered to house some of the senior project management team who will also oversee the brick by brick dismantling and rebuilding of key buildings from Harmondsworth and Longford. This could include St Mary the Virgin church in Harmondsworth, where the Great Tithe Barn has just undergone adaptations to enable it to be moved to the Weald and Downland Open Air Museum if necessary.
Sunbury Golf Course Clubhouse
April Fools joke …. sadly Heathrow is not being this proactive … nor is there any such attractive solution …
Recruitment teams will travel to Eastern Europe to recruit some of the 10,000 construction workers who will be needed for the first phase of demolition and redevelopment. They will be housed in 2,000 Portacabins at Laleham Cricket Club, which will be renamed Heathrow Workers’ City. This will provide a welcome boost for the local economy, especially Staines Shopping Centre.
An anonymous source at Spelthorne Borough Council said, “We feel privileged to be paving the way for a fourth runway to make Heathrow better AND bigger. Frankly, when Heathrow turns up with wheelbarrows full of cash from its Chinese and Qatari owners it’s impossible to say no. In a few years time everyone will have forgotten the golf course and the old duffers who used it, they’ll have a whole new development, that’s progress. Heathrow is promising to end youth unemployment with apprenticeships to teach them how to serve food, sell duty-free goods and make hotel beds. Kevin Harman, speaking on behalf of the Heathrow Hub option, told us that there will be plenty of work in security because there is a lot of money in terrorism. Honestly, I’m not joking. He said that at a public meeting when he said there’d be more jobs.”
A golfer, Conservative voter and retired airline worker who is close to the Sunbury Golf Club Committee stated that he’d been persuaded to wave goodbye to the club by the promise of jobs, jobs and more jobs. He quipped “Heathrow replacing beauty with concrete is par for the course.”
Sidney Sciurus, who considers himself a typical Back Heathrow supporter said, “If you build blocks of flats you could solve the housing problem and make way for even more runways. I love the new quiet planes. People who complain about being woken up at 4am should get double glazing. It’s nuts to stand in the way of Heathrow’s foreign owners just because they don’t have to live here with the extra pollution.
He continued, “I live far enough away that it doesn’t affect me so the sooner they dig up Sunbury Golf Club the better. No ifs, no buts, bring on the bulldozers!
http://www.stopheathrowexpansion.co.uk/
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Full version at http://www.stopheathrowexpansion.co.uk/secret-plan-to-compulsory-purchase-sunbury-golf-course-for-housing-2/
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April Fools joke …. sadly Heathrow is not being this proactive … nor is there any such attractive solution …
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