Heathrow plans consultation reveals – despite greenwash – it wants to build mega car park on greenbelt land

Heathrow Airport Limited have – in their latest consultation on its runway hopes – outlined proposals that would see vast swathes of green belt land around the airport used for buildings to support a 3rd runway. One building in particular would be a “new car park for the airport” on Little Harlington Playing Fields, for 20,000 vehicles (see map below), close to an air pollution monitor which has frequently broken legal air quality limits. The plan to build a car park on green belt land is, according to campaigners, somewhat ironic given the airport have been pushing so-called environmental credentials of a third runway, including a specific pledge to have “no more airport-related traffic on the roads compared to today”. The pledge has been widely publicised, including to MPs, who will decide on whether Heathrow should expand later this year, in a parliamentary vote. Rob Barnstone, Coordinator of Stop Heathrow Expansion, said: “It is deeply disappointing and worrying for our local environment that Heathrow have expressed intent to build on so many green belt land sites. … There is a great irony in pledging to have no additional cars using an expanded airport compared with now, then wanting to build a huge new car park on green belt land site. The pledge is now simply laughable.”
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Heathrow want to build mega car park on greenbelt land

Stop Heathrow Expansion (SHE) Press Release

17th Jan 2018

Heathrow Airport Limited have today outlined proposals that would see vast swathes of green belt land around the airport used for buildings to support a third runway (1).

One building in particular would be a “new car park for the airport” on Little Harlington Playing Fields, for 20,000 vehicles (2), close to an air pollution monitor which has frequently broken legal air quality limits.

The proposals came to light in a consultation launched on Wednesday as part of its effort to build a third runway at Heathrow, despite ongoing parliamentary scrutiny as to whether the airport should expand altogether.

The plan to build a car park on green belt land is, according to campaigners, somewhat ironic given the airport have been pushing so-called environmental credentials of a third runway, including a specific pledge to have “no more airport-related traffic on the roads compared to today” (3). The pledge has been widely publicised, including to MPs, who will decide on whether Heathrow should expand later this year.

Rob Barnstone, Coordinator of Stop Heathrow Expansion, said: “It is deeply disappointing and worrying for our local environment that Heathrow have expressed intent to build on so many green belt land sites.

“There is a great irony in pledging to have no additional cars using an expanded airport compared with now, then wanting to build a huge new car park on green belt land site. The pledge is now simply laughable.”

Ends.

Notes

1. IMAGE 1: Heathrow consultation document page 89. https://www.heathrowconsultation.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/01/2263-Heathrow-OEP-and-Appendix-FINAL-RGB-200dpi.pdf

Figure showing the sites Heathrow want to build new cars parks

2. IMAGE 2: Map of local green belt land sites, (taken from http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/earth/greenpolitics/planning/9708387/Interactive-map-Englands-green-belt.html)

Greenbelt land around Heathrow

Red dot indicates location of the Little Harlington Playing Fields.

3. Heathrow ‘no more cars than today’ pledge https://your.heathrow.com/takingbritainfurther/wp-content/uploads/2014/09/Transport-Fact-Sheet_FINAL2.pdf

Further info:

Rob Barnstone 07806 947 050


Spaces for 40,000 cars under Heathrow’s ‘green’ expansion

By Graeme Paton, Transport Correspondent (Times)
January 18 2018,

Plans for Heathrow published yesterday contained proposals for car parks for up to 40,000 cars

The biggest car parks in the world could be built at Heathrow under plans for a third runway, despite a pledge to clampdown on motor traffic to the airport.

Detailed plans published yesterday contained proposals for two car parks for up to 20,000 cars each. The multi-storey structures could be on sites north and southwest of the airport. One could be built on playing fields.

The buildings would be as big as a shopping centre car park in Edmonton, Canada, the largest in the world.

The designs angered campaigners in west London who oppose expansion of the airport. They warned that they would make a mockery of a pledge to cut the number of vehicles being driven to Heathrow. A spokeswoman for the airport insisted that it represented an attempt to consolidate parking on a few multi-storey sites close to terminals rather than the present position in which several sprawling surface-level car parks were used.

Heathrow plans to introduce congestion charges to reduce the number of vehicles driven to the site. Prices may be based on emissions, with “cleaner, less polluting vehicles paying less”.

The proposals were outlined in plans for the third runway published by Heathrow yesterday, which will be subject to a ten-week public consultation.

The airport will eventually grow by 50 per cent to accommodate 740,000 flights a year under the £14 billion scheme, to be completed in late 2025.

The proposals do not include the location of new flight paths over London and the southeast, leading to claims that the airport is withholding the worst effects of expansion. Heathrow has about 51,500 parking spaces. Many will go when the new runway is built northwest of the airport.

Other facilities that need to be relocated include the headquarters of British Airways and the main Home Office immigration removal centre.

Opponents said that the plan “would see vast swathes of green belt land around the airport” for cars. The northern car park could be built on the Little Harlington playing field.

Robert Barnstone, co-ordinator of Stop Heathrow Expansion, said: “There is a great irony in pledging to have no additional cars . . . then wanting to build a huge new car park on green belt land. The pledge is simply laughable.”

A Heathrow spokeswoman said: “Building on green belt land is justifiably only allowed in special circumstances, which our planning submission will have to prove exist with our expansion.”

https://www.thetimes.co.uk/article/spaces-for-40-000-cars-under-heathrow-s-green-expansion-78t6m2ghq

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Heathrow expansion: Green belt field could be turned into airport car park or relocated immigration centre

Little Harlington Playing Fields has been one of Hillingdon’s most used sporting facilities since the 1950s

By Qasim Peracha (Get West London)
22nd JAN 2018

Heathrow Airport has lined up a green belt playing field as a potential location for a new car park in its latest consultation.

The land at Little Harlington Playing Fields, just to the north of the current airport site, could be swallowed up if the third runway is built at the airport.

The green belt site could also be the location of the new Immigration Removal Centre, with Harmondsworth IRC set to shut down to make way for the proposed runway.

The land lies within Heathrow’s Compulsory Purchase Zone and is owned by Hillingdon Council, which currently rents it out as a local sports facility.

It has been the borough’s most used grass sporting facilities since the 1950s and is home to 19 football clubs as well as casual bookings for football and cricket.

The proposal has been dubbed “ironic” by anti-Heathrow campaigner Robert Barnstone, who highlighted the airport’s pledge to have “no more airport-related traffic on the roads compared to today”.

The pledge has been one of the cornerstones of the Heathrow proposal, presented to MPs ahead of a vote later this year which would finalise the hub as the government’s official site for airport expansion.

Rob Barnstone, coordinator of Stop Heathrow Expansion, said: “It is deeply disappointing and worrying for our local environment that Heathrow have expressed intent to build on so many green belt land sites.

“There is a great irony in pledging to have no additional cars using an expanded airport compared with now, then wanting to build a huge new car park on green belt land site. The pledge is now simply laughable.”

The third runway will extend over the M25 but the length of it and options for the relocation of the M25 are up for consultation (Image: Heathrow Airport/Grimshaw Architects)
A spokesman for Heathrow told getwestlondon: “We are just at the first consultation phase and we have invited everyone to give feedback on the consultation.

“We are not at the stage where we have made decisions about where to put the car park.”

Hillingdon Council has been approached for comment but has not yet responded at the time of publishing.

Heathrow launched its first official consultation on infrastructure and airspace for the North West Runway on Wednesday (January 17).

The airport is holding 40 consultation events across neighbouring areas as part of the 10-week consultation allowing locals to feedback on options for the M25, runway length, terminal provisions and priorities for remapping airspace.

To find out more details about the consultation events, detailed proposals and to respond to the consultation visit the website . https://www.heathrowconsultation.com/

https://www.getwestlondon.co.uk/news/west-london-news/heathrow-expansion-green-belt-field-14172681

 

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