Heathrow Airport to provide funding to set up pro-Heathrow expansion group
Heathrow Airport has announced that it will provide seed funding for a new community campaign “to provide a voice for the thousands of local people who support Heathrow”. Plans for the campaign are in their early stages but it said it will seek to establish itself and start identifying and recruiting support before the end of the year. The announcement comes on the back of polling results Heathrow released today which claims almost half the people in the boroughs closest to the airport favour its expansion. The Populus telephone poll took place between 27th February and 4th May, and questionned 6,000 residents in Hounslow, Richmond Park {?}, Hillingdon, Windsor and Spelthorne. It found that 46% support expanding Heathrow, compared to 43% who oppose expansion. They say 60% of residents feel positive towards Heathrow compared to 6% who feel negatively. In reality, it is well known that the results of a poll depend on the wording of questions, and how they are asked. Previous surveys have shown most residents are opposed to expansion – and many other residents should be questioned in other boroughs to get full data.
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Heathrow Airport to provide funding to set up pro-Heathrow expansion group
12.6.2013 (HACAN)
Heathrow Airport announced today that it will provide seed funding for a new community campaign “to provide a voice for the thousands of local people who support Heathrow”. Plans for the campaign are in their early stages but it said it will seek to establish itself and start identifying and recruiting support before the end of the year. [ Heathrow press release copied below ].
The announcement comes on the back of polling results Heathrow released today which claims almost half the people in the boroughs closet to the airport favour expansion of the airport. The poll, commissioned from Populus by the airport, found that 46% support expanding Heathrow, compared to 43% who oppose expansion.
The poll of 6,000 residents in Hounslow, Richmond Park, Hillingdon, Windsor and Spelthorne, found:
– 60% of residents feel positive towards Heathrow compared to 6% who feel negatively
– 66% say that the benefits of Heathrow outweigh the disadvantages for their community
– 46% support expanding Heathrow, compared to 43% who oppose expansion
John Stewart, Chair of HACAN, the residents’ organisation which opposes expansion, said, “This poll is out-of-kilter with previous surveys which have shown most residents are opposed to expansion. But, even on the polls own findings, it is clear Heathrow would face significant opposition if it tried to build a third runway.”
Stewart added, “We take it as a compliment that Heathrow Airport wants to set up a residents group that supports expansion. Our only piece of advice to them is to find a better name than the obscure one we are stuck with!”
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Heathrow says:
The results of the polling has prompted Heathrow to announce that it will provide seed funding for a new community campaign to provide a voice for the thousands of local people who support Heathrow. Plans for the campaign are in their early stages but it will seek to establish itself and start identifying and recruiting support before the end of the year.
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Comments by AirportWatch members:
As someone who had the pleasure of being interviewed by Populus in the telephone poll, I am not sure that the detailed results published at Populus Heathrow Local Area Polling
properly explains the context of the questioning.
There was a whole lot of other stuff on noise including something like “of these seven options, which do you think would do the most to show that Heathrow was seriously trying to mitigate the impact of noise ?”
Perhaps this is still to be reported or was just used as input to the development of the recent commitments on future noise work and/or submissions to the Davies Commission.
I don’t suppose Heathrow/Populus will publish the telephone script that the questioners actually used.
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As Heathrow affects way more people than those in the areas polled, the poll results are not representative.
Statistically it is called a selection error – although it depends on your point of view as to whether it is an “error” or not . As anyone who has looked into the art/science of polling will know, a poll be shown to say almost anything you want – it depends on who you ask and what you ask them.
If there is genuinely so much support for Heathrow expansion, one could question why it is necessary for the airport to pay for a community group to curry it up.
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East Midland Airport use a similar tactic in that it is an important centre of employment and trade, which it is of course. However, we have seen skewed and counter-intuitive survey results – presumably because the airport has pushed airline and other employees to take part in surveys, over and above responses from the general public. When individuals have had letters published in the local press, commenting on the need for more sustainable airport operations, there are usually howls of protest in follow-up letters that obviously emanate from airport employees. We know of situations where responses have been orchestrated by the airport management or their underlings. Having said that, the general public are often reported to be in favour of the airport simply because of its convenience and their love of cheap long distance travel
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Heathrow poll ‘shows most residents back expansion’
by Nicholas Cecil (Evening standard)
12 June 2013
Residents who live near Heathrow are slightly more likely to be in favour of expansion than be opposed, according to a large poll commissioned by the airport.
The Populus survey of more than 6,000 people found that 46% supported a bigger Heathrow, compared with 43% who were against expansion.
Communities with more people who worked at the airport were found to be more in favour of expansion.
In Feltham and Heston, 51 per cent backed expansion, with 38 per cent against, in Spelthorne the breakdown was 48-36, in Windsor 48-39, Brentford and Isleworth 46-43, Hillingdon 44-47 and the least support was in Richmond Park [sic. Richmond Park. Not Richmond. See the Populus findings ]. with 50 per cent opposing a bigger Heathrow compared with 39 per cent in favour.
Clare Harbord, Heathrow’s director of corporate affairs, said: “This research shows that most local residents back Heathrow. Anti-Heathrow campaigners claim that everyone living near Heathrow is opposed to the airport, but that simply isn’t true.”
John Stewart, chairman of anti- Heathrow expansion group HACAN, challenged the findings. He said: “This poll is a little bit out of kilter with the majority of polls which have been done which show overall opposition to a third runway at Heathrow.”
Heathrow bosses say 114,000 jobs in the area depend on the airport. It is to fund a “new community campaign” to argue for the benefits of expansion.
Populus interviewed more than 6,000 adults between 27th Feb and 4th May.
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CATI Fieldwork : 27th February – 4th May 2013
The questions in the Populus survey: link
Q1a. Thinking specifically about your own constituency and the candidates who are likely to stand there, what will be the MOST IMPORTANT ISSUE in determining which party’s candidate you are likely to vote for at the next General Election?
Q1b. And what will be the SECOND MOST IMPORTANT ISSUE?
Q1c. And what will be the THIRD MOST IMPORTANT ISSUE?
Q2. To what extent do you agree or disagree with the following [three] statements [below] about Heathrow?
For me and my family the benefits of Heathrow generally outweigh the disadvantages.
or
For my local community the benefits of Heathrow generally outweigh the disadvantages. as a country
or
For the country as a whole the benefits of Heathrow generally outweigh the disadvantages.
Q3. Taking everything into account, based on what you have seen, read and heard, how positive or negative would you say you feel towards Heathrow Airport? On a scale of 0-10, where 0 means very negative, 10 means very positive, and 5 is neutral.
Q4. Taking everything you know into account, do you currently support or oppose expanding Heathrow? [Strongly support, somewhat support, neither support nor oppose, strongly oppose, somewhat oppose].
And to which of these ethnic groups do you consider you belong …
Which of the following best describes your current working status?
The age and gender.
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New polling shows residents back Heathrow
12 June, 2013 (Heathrow airport press release)
- New polling of the communities around Heathrow shows that more people back Heathrow than oppose it. The findings have prompted Heathrow to announce that it will provide funding for a community campaign to give a voice to the hundreds of thousands of residents who back Heathrow.
The survey, which was conducted by Populus, is a representative sample of more than 6,000 residents from Hounslow, Richmond, Hillingdon, Windsor and Spelthorne. It found:
- 60% of residents feel positive towards Heathrow compared to just 6% who feel negatively
- 66% say that the benefits of Heathrow outweigh the disadvantages for their community
- 46% support expanding Heathrow, compared to 43% who oppose expansion
- Heathrow is the 12th most important issue is determining which candidate to vote for at the next general election, with jobs and the economy the most important issue.
The area with the most aircraft noise, Feltham and Heston, is the area which is most supportive of the airport expanding. 51% of people in Feltham and Heston support expanding Heathrow compared to 39% who are opposed.
Heathrow Director of Corporate Affairs, Clare Harbord said
“This research shows that most local residents back Heathrow. Anti-Heathrow campaigners claim that everyone living near Heathrow is opposed to the airport, but that simply isn’t true.
“The recent report by MPs on Parliament’s Transport Committee lays bare what the Mayor’s plans for a new airport would do to this region: it says an estuary hub airport would require the closure of Heathrow – a course of action that would have unacceptable consequences for individuals, businesses in the vicinity of the existing airport and the local economy.”
“We believe that local jobs and businesses are worth fighting for. It’s time to give people who agree a voice in this debate. It’s time to back Heathrow”
114,000 jobs in the area depend on Heathrow, representing 1 in 5 local jobs in the five boroughs closest to Heathrow. If Heathrow closed then people directly employed at the airport would have to be re-located or would be made redundant. It would be Britain’s worst ever mass redundancy with job losses greater than when MG Rover closed its factory at Longbridge in 2005 (6,500 jobs), or during the worst year of UK pit closures in 1984 (30,000 jobs).
The results of the polling has prompted Heathrow to announce that it will provide seed funding for a new community campaign to provide a voice for the thousands of local people who support Heathrow. Plans for the campaign are in their early stages but it will seek to establish itself and start identifying and recruiting support before the end of the year.
Notes to editors
- The Report ‘Aviation Strategy’ was published by the House of Commons Transport Committee on 10 May 2013 and is available at http://www.parliament.uk/business/committees/committees-a-z/commons-select/transport-committee/news/as-report—substantive/. The Committee said “The viability of an estuary hub airport would also require the closure of Heathrow – a course of action that would have unacceptable consequences for individuals, businesses in the vicinity of the existing airport and the local economy.”
- Populus interviewed at least 1,000 adult residents (18+) in each of five constituencies and one London Borough local to Heathrow Airport by telephone between 27 February and 4 May 2013. In total, 6,003 residents were interviewed. Results were weighted to be demographically representative of all adults in each constituency and borough. Constituency results were also weighted by past vote to be politically representative of all adults.
- http://mediacentre.heathrowairport.com/Press-releases/New-polling-shows-residents-back-Heathrow-590.aspx
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