Heathrow hopes to make a monster 3-runway airport acceptable by building a 9,000 home “garden city”

At the RunwaysUK conference, Heathrow CEO John Holland-Kaye spoke of his plans to create a 3-runway “aerotropolis” around the airport, with a 9,000-home Heathrow Garden City.  He said: “When you are relocating hotels and offices, why not put them next to the rail interchange, so that we can have fewer cars on the road — an aerotropolis, if you like …. If you are re-landscaping the airport boundary, why not link up the open spaces to create a green ribbon round the airport, with better local amenities …. and …. improve local flood defences? Why not improve the local road network and cycle paths?”  He said west London needs regeneration just as much as east London, and the airport would do that. The development is understood to be planned for the Hounslow area. Heathrow hopes to get public transport up by over 10% in 4 years, to try and get the air pollution problem  down low enough to be allowed a runway. And then: “We should get shovels in the ground by 2020 and the benefits of an expanded Heathrow in 2025.” Work was starting on gaining the planning consents needed for the development.  Holland-Kaye said the airport may not agree to all the conditions for expansion proposed by the Airports Commission, but believes “an agreement could be struck on them.”  
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Heathrow plans for 9,000-home new garden city

By Nicholas Cecil

6.7.2015 (Evening Standard)

Heathrow chiefs today unveiled plans to create a three-runway “aerotropolis” in west London with a 9,000-home new garden city.

In his first speech since the Airports Commission recommended a new runway at Heathrow, the airport’s chief executive John Holland-Kaye told how it would be reshaped to better fit into the local environment and economy.

“When you are relocating hotels and offices, why not put them next to the rail interchange, so that we can have fewer cars on the road — an aerotropolis, if you like,” he told a Runways UK conference in central London.

“If you are re-landscaping the airport boundary, why not link up the open spaces to create a green ribbon round the airport, with better local amenities. And while you are at it, why not improve local flood defences? Why not improve the local road network and cycle paths?”

The Heathrow boss stressed that west London needs regeneration just as much as the east of the city.

“Our neighbours in Southall and Feltham are aspirational,” he added. “Expansion will support the regeneration of west London, and tomorrow you will see an example of a regeneration plan, with the new Heathrow Garden City, including 9,000 homes.” The development is understood to be planned for the Hounslow area.

Mr Holland-Kaye also published plans to increase public transport use by more than 10 per cent over the next four years as it seeks to cut air pollution to ensure this is not a hurdle to expansion.

Calling for an early decision by the Government to back a third runway, he said: “We should get shovels in the ground by 2020 and the benefits of an expanded Heathrow in 2025.”

Work was starting on gaining the planning consents needed for the development.

He signalled that the airport may not agree to all the conditions for expansion proposed by the Airports Commission, but believes an agreement could be struck on them.

He admitted that 800 homes having to be demolished for the third runway would be “very painful” for the owners but stressed they were being offered 25 per cent above the unblighted market value for their properties.

John Stewart, chairman of anti-Heathrow expansion group HACAN who also spoke at the conference, stressed a final decision had not been made as this would be down to the Government, with the Cabinet deeply split.

While some residents would be attracted to the expansion plans by the pledge to stop night flights, others would still oppose them, he was due to add.

http://www.standard.co.uk/news/transport/heathrow-plans-for-9000home-new-garden-city-10368603.html
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Mr Holland-Kaye announced plans for a new “Heathrow Garden City” that would see about 9,000 homes built in Hounslow. It is understood that the development would be funded by Hounslow Council, although the masterplan has been developed in partnership with Heathrow.

The council said the plan was not dependent on a third runway and that it is “is extremely conceptual”.

 


Comment from a local resident:

Let’s Pretend. ……with Jolly Jonny.   [John Holland-Kaye]

“Today Jonny is going to build a magic AIRTOPIA  in Hounslow.

Every home will have a Magic Money Tree on their balcony to make up their low wages.
Everyone will ride around on a Unicorn to reduce traffic congestion.
Pixies will flap their wings to disperse dangerous pollution.
Leprechauns will sing merrily to drown out the intollerable aircraft noise.

A spokesperson for Hounslow Council said;
” Stop it ! My sides are splitting. That John Holland-Kaye is hilarious.”

Before adding; “You are joking ? He hasn’t said anything to us.”


Andrew Neather: Heathrow runway would see our air pollution take off

3.7.2015 (Evening Standard)

Following the Airports Commission’s backing for a third runway at Heathrow, the battle lines are drawn.

Among would-be 2016 mayoral candidates, Tory Zac Goldsmith is against. On the Labour side, Sadiq Khan is against, David Lammy in favour and Tessa Jowell presumed to be pro. Heathrow isn’t, in fact, a decision over which the Mayor has control. But a new runway would have a major impact on one area where the next mayor will be under real pressure: air quality.

In April the Supreme Court threw out as inadequate the Government’s plans to cut air pollution, demanding that ministers present new ones by the end of the year. The Mayor’s figures show that more than 4,200 Londoners die prematurely each year from dirty air. Our air breaks EU legal maximums for nitrogen dioxide, and as the Airports Commission report this week concedes, even without airport expansion, it is forecast to do so still in 2030.
With a new runway, Heathrow’s air traffic would rise by more than half, with an increase almost as large in the NO2 and particulate matter — tiny specks of soot — from jet engines. The commission ignores pollution from planes flying at over 1,000 feet. But even more NO2 would be added by increased ground traffic.

Today’s 73 million passengers a year would rise to more than 100 million by 2030, and 130 million by 2050. Taking out transfers, more than 50 million people now start or finish their journeys at Heathrow; in 2050 the commission says it would be 100 million.

Around 60 per cent of them now go by car or cab, another 12 per cent by bus or coach. Meanwhile more than 84,000 people work at the airport or in businesses directly related to it; nearly two-thirds of airport staff get to work by private transport, and more than 85 per cent by road. A 2009 study also estimated that Heathrow generated around 1.9 million one-way freight and service-related trips a year.

Not all of those road journeys pass through London, though much of their pollution, borne by prevailing winds, does. But the commission looked at air quality only within a 2km radius.

The report breezily forecasts that 53 per cent of passengers will get there by public transport in 2030 — up from 41 per cent now — without explaining how London’s transport system will cope. Crossrail will make some difference but not a lot, since it replaces Heathrow Connect. And all the capacity on the upgraded Piccadilly line will by then have been taken up by the capital’s growth.

The commission concludes that this vast increase in air and road traffic will have only a negligible impact. It asserts that air quality is “a manageable part of a wider problem that Government is now obligated to address”. Ministers need to come up with a new plan, and “expansion at Heathrow should be capable of being incorporated into that plan without delaying compliance” with the Supreme Court’s ruling. In other words: your problem, minister, not Heathrow’s.

Even with the Mayor’s modest plans, we will struggle to bring air pollution within legal limits. With a new runway at Heathrow, we can forget it. It’s hard to see how any mayoral candidate who supports expansion can really be serious about cleaning up London’s filthy air.

http://www.standard.co.uk/comment/comment/heathrow-runway-would-see-our-air-pollution-take-off-10363931.html

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