Council leaders attack ‘dishonest’ Heathrow promotional leaflet, circulated widely by DfT

The DfT was accused of a “dishonest approach” over expansion  with the “shamelessly one-sided” leaflet  which councils say failed to include:

• Proposed new flight paths.
• The fact that there could be up to 260,000 more flights a year.
• That tens of thousands of people would get less respite from noise.
• That a third runway is expected to increase air pollution.
• An alleged increase in road traffic.

However, the leaflet highlighted that a third runway was expected to deliver economic benefits to passengers and the wider economy worth up to £61 billion, tens of thousands of additional local jobs, £2.6 billion in compensation for local communities, six new domestic flight routes, a Heathrow pledge to create 5,000 new apprenticeships and £700 million of noise insulation for homes.

Ravi Govindia, leader of Wandsworth council, said: “This consultation is clearly designed to mislead millions of people. The Government’s publicity material is shamelessly one-sided.”

Attacking the lack of flight path details, he said: “The Government’s dishonest approach is undermining the fragile trust our residents have in politics.”

Accusations of dishonesty: the Heathrow leaflet

Wandsworth claimed that some areas which may be overflown from a bigger Heathrow were not included in the leaflet consultation exercise, including Clapham, Lambeth, Pimlico, Marylebone, Westminster, Streatham, Mayfair and Kennington.   

Richmond council leader Lord True claimed that communities around Heathrow already suffered more noise and air pollution than similar ones near any other European airport.

He said: “Incredibly, these proposals conveniently miss out the fact that with a third runway, noise respite will be halved. Many residents will be overflown for 75% of the time. The Government need to stop the spin.”

Hillingdon leader Ray Puddifoot said: “There is no mention of the increase in traffic and rail use…nor of the fact Heathrow already contributes to illegal levels of air pollution.”

Simon Dudley, leader of Windsor & Maidenhead, said the leaflet misses out information about flight paths and environmental impacts and “is hugely disappointing.”

A DfT spokeswoman said the consultation “clearly sets out the benefits and potential impacts of expansion” and showed “a world-class package of compensation and mitigation measures.”    [This is just an encapsulation of the attitude and approach of the DfT staff. There is no attempt to deal with environmental problems, and the leaflet and “information” events are intended to promote the runway. Plain and simple. AirportWatch comment].

Heathrow, which  denies vehicle traffic will increase,  today declared 2016 its “best year ever” with a record 75.7 million passengers and revenues up 1.5 per cent to £2.8 billion. Fliers spent more at airport shops and the cheap pound boosted cargo business.

http://www.standard.co.uk/news/transport/council-leaders-attack-dishonest-heathrow-leaflet-a3475066.html

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See also

Richmond criticises the 1.5 million DfT leaflets promoting 3rd runway as inadequate on noise problems

 February 18, 2017

Lord True, the leader of Richmond Council, has complained (as have thousands of other people) that the information being put out in the DfT consultation on the Heathrow NPS is inadequate. He said: “The leaflet that was sent out last week it propaganda in its finest. And, the more we read into the full consultation material the more concerned we are at the Government’s selective presentation of the third runway’s impacts. They should be proactively informing flight path communities about major changes like the loss of daytime respite periods but that’s not been their approach. In the next few weeks there will be a number of resident consultation events, coordinated by the Department of Transport. I urge all concerned people to go and have their say and let the government know if they are not giving the information we need.” The DfT is not making it clear that areas like Richmond would be overflown for around 75% of the day, rather than around 50% of the time now. The leaflet makes no mention of noise, other than a carefully worded offer of 6.5 hours with no SCHEDULED flights at night. It is not made easy for members of the public to find data on noise changes, with a 3rd runway. There will be no details of flight paths for several years – so the whole NPS consultation is being done, deliberately by the DfT, in the absence of noise information needed by residents.

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Critique of 11 claims by DfT, in its 1.5 million pro-Heathrow runway leaflets, for NPS consultation

February 16, 2017

The DfT has sent out 1.5 million leaflets to households in areas not too far from Heathrow. The leaflets make no attempt whatsoever of balance, and are merely advertising the runway plans and promoting them. Many of the claims are misleading, or so abbreviated as to be unclear. Below there is a critique of the claims, point by point, and links to evidence backing up the criticisms. If anyone has received a leaflet, and wonders about the facts, this webpage may give some useful information. Just a few examples of the dubious statements in the leaflet: the figure of £61 billion economic benefit is given, leaving out the proviso that this is over 60 years. There is much made of the generosity of the compensation to be given for compulsory purchase, but in reality anything much below 125% would be derisory, and way below world standards. The claim about six and a half hours of no scheduled night flights omits to mention how many flights, scheduled before 11pm, often take off almost to midnight. And though there may be 6 more domestic links from Heathrow, these are likely to be unprofitable and may not last for long. The loss of long haul routes from other UK airports, due to a larger Heathrow, is conveniently ignored.

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