Heathrow 3rd runway: Harmondsworth residents link decision to Brexit

The Huffington Post interviewed people in Harmondsworth a few days after the news that the government intends to give approval for a Heathrow runway. That will mean around half of the village being destroyed, and all of Longford, with the new runway perimeter fence half way down the village.  People gathered in the Five Bells Pub in Harmondsworth on 25th October, to watch the TV and get the news together.  Some of the people interviewed were Roy Barwick, who has lived there all his life, and whose family has lived in the area for nearly six generations. He spoke of how the small landing strip beside fields his family worked grew to become the giant hub it is today. “My children, my grandchildren and myself occupy four houses in the villages and all of them are earmarked for demolition.“Losing one’s home is a trauma second only to bereavement.  I’m not going anywhere. I shan’t leave.” Neil Keveren is a long-standing campaigner, to try to save his village. He believes that Brexit is being used to force the runway through, and it is opportunistic messaging. He spent money improving his home, when Cameron promised there would be no 3rd runway – and the irony is that as parts of Harmondsworth are a conservation area, he had to use specially approved materials. The runway fence will be just outside his property. For some, no amount of money can make up for the memories that may be lost under the tarmac of the new runway.
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Heathrow Airport Third Runway: Harmondsworth Residents Link Decision To Brexit

‘We’re saying the latest plan has been put together on the back of a fag packet.’

29/10/2016

By George Bowden (Reporter at The Huffington Post UK)

watching-the-heathrow-news-harmondsworth

People in the Five Bells pub in Harmondsworth, watching the news on the TV, of the government approval of a Heathrow runway – meaning their eviction from their homes

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Lots of excellent photos in the Huffington Post story here
For Roy Barwick, the decision to approve a third runway at Heathrow Airport threatens to end his family’s near six generation long history in west London. Roy Barwick has lived in Harmondsworth his entire life and his children and grandchildren own property in the Heathrow villages.

Speaking in the living room of his Harmondsworth home adorned with family mementos, the former farmer recalled how the small landing strip beside fields his family worked grew to become the giant hub it is today.

“My children, my grandchildren and myself occupy four houses in the villages and all of them are earmarked for demolition,” he told The Huffington Post UK.

“I couldn’t have imagined it would all be concentrated in one place like this,” he said. “There’s been no new thinking at all.”

Yet this week ends more than a decade of uncertainty for residents like Roy, with the government heralding its “momentous” decision as a signal “Britain is open for business”.

This has led many of those living around the airport believe that the government’s desire for good economic news post-Brexit vote has hurried the decision to build a third runway.

Campaigner Neil Keveren, of the Stop Heathrow Expansion campaign, looks out of his home in Harmondsworth, under the proposals his future view will be of a perimeter fence.  Neil Keveren  told HuffPost. ““I think potentially Brexit is being used to force this through.  To say that we need this and that we can’t afford to lag behind the others in any way and to show that we’re open for business.

“I think it’s opportunistic messaging.”

The 55-year-old builder, whose Harmondsworth home will face a new airport boundary fence under the plans, has seen his fair share of political manoeuvring during the debate to expand the airport.

Harmondsworth is noted for its traditional English architecture, like Sun House above
“The electorate of Maidenhead believed Theresa May was opposed, they will feel betrayed,” he said. “David Cameron’s ‘no ifs, no buts, no third runway’ pledge was repeated in the House of Commons, Philip Hammond quoted Monty Python in his opposition – where’s their conscience now?”

The decision this week came as Transport Secretary Chris Grayling endorsed new plans for a ‘sloped’ runway over the M25 as a way of delivering expansion on time.

The slope would be built using earth from elsewhere on the site and, unlike previous proposals, leave the busy six-lane motorway intact. Pilots have since said this could mean more fuel is required on take-off and cause problems for landing aircraft.

The historic village of Harmondsworth has many listed buildings and is an official conservation area

“We’re saying the latest plan has been put together on the back of a fag packet. We’ve got no details at all,” local historian Justine Bayley, who lives next door to Keveren and will also face the new perimeter, said. “This is a government that’s waving a magic wand, that is desperate and has got all sorts of big financial holes to plug because of the way the pound’s gone after Brexit.

“Now they’re prepared to spend money like there’s no tomorrow.”

Over in the village of Sipson, a mile from Harmondsworth, hairdresser Jackie Clark-Basten, 43, told HuffPost she thinks Brexit has clouded the government’s view. Jackie runs a hairdressing salon in Sipson,  close to where a new runway is proposed. She said:
“They’ve agreed to something that’s deeply flawed,” she said. “I think that by looking at what will happen post-Brexit, Theresa May wants to make sure we’re a strong viable country once we leave the EU.

“I think Brexit has influenced Theresa May’s position because what she’s been left with is making Britain in an extremely strong position once we leave.

“They want to say ‘we’re open for business’. And I suppose one way is to open up new routes and trade links with other countries. We hear that a third runway will do that, but we’re not so sure.

The villages of Heathrow are picturesque in character, with campaign banners the only sign of the proposals

“Maybe that’s what the government has based the decision on. It feels like they’ve tried to get a square peg into a round hole.”

It comes as the Airports Commission report which “formed the basis” of the decision to back Heathrow was exposed to have potentially overstated the benefits of a new runway by as much as half.

A new document from the DfT on 25th October shows the number of new local jobs delivered by an expanded Heathrow could be just 50% of that predicted by the Commission’s report  – ie. up to  37,740 not up to 77,000 by 2030  – and the entire economic case could be out by as much as £86bn, ie. at the most optimistic, up to £61 billion for the whole of the UK over 60 years, rather than the earlier figure of £147 billion.

Neil Keveren’s partner Emma Steele, 47, told HuffPost she fears of the effect on teaching if the new runway is built.

“I’m a music teacher over in Slough, and I already see my snare drums rattle when a plane goes overhead. I’m not sure the people over there know what’s coming.”

Having spent thousands developing their home, Emma said she felt betrayed by ‘absurd’ conservation laws that demanded the family use prescribed materials to renovate their house.

“Yet despite all that, being a conservation area doesn’t matter if they want to build a runway,” she said. “The fact we’ve got listed buildings that will go. Why should it happen and how can they do that?”

But ignoring the campaign against expansion and the doubts surfacing over the economic case for a third runway, some residents of the villages affected are keen to sell up and move on.

“Looking at the wider benefits, the country seems to need better connections through the airways and it’s got to happen somewhere,” Ian Jarmaine, 70, told HuffPost.

“I’m now retired and in a position where I can upsticks. It’s very much a personal view and if you like a very selfish attitude,” he said. “What annoys me is that this has been considered for 20 years. Asking myself do I buy new windows, do I spend money? Life has been on hold.”

Those whose homes are scheduled for demolition received a letter from Heathrow giving them notice just an hour after the announcement on Tuesday.

Ian Jarmaine and Roy Barwick are among the some 4,000 people who will lose their home under the current proposals, receiving full value of their home plus an additional sum.

Other’s like Neil Keveren and Justine Bayley will receive unspecified compensation should they need to sell their homes after the runway is built.

Yet some argue no amount of money can make up for the memories that may be lost under the tarmac of the new runway.

“Losing one’s home is a trauma second only to bereavement,” Roy said. “I’m not going anywhere. I shan’t leave.”

Full article, with lots of great photos, is at 

http://www.huffingtonpost.co.uk/entry/heathrow-airport-third-runway-brexit_uk_581337a3e4b04660a438ded4?

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Also lots of good photos from the Daily Mail at

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-3885762/Meet-people-facing-Heathrow-s-death-sentence.html?ITO=1490&ns_mchannel=rss&ns_campaign=1490
Residents in the tiny but historic village of Harmondsworth, West London, have posed for photographs outside the buildings that now face destruction.

The village, which is home to a Grade I-listed barn as well as a Norman church, would be flattened in parts.

In addition to the properties that will be demolished, other houses will be deemed uninhabitable due to noise pollution.

Residents have been living on tenterhooks for years, awaiting the decision that could destroy their small community.

The fate they feared is now one step closer to reality after Theresa May backed the multi-billion pound expansion, with a final decision expected next winter.

Among them is Armelle Thomas, a 70-year-old resident of Cambridge Close who posed with a portrait of her late husband Tommy, a war veteran.

Under the plans, her home would be among 750 or so buildings to be flattened to make way for a third runway.

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