Airport News
Below are news items relating to specific airports
Windsor councillor says there would be homes ‘turmoil’ if Heathrow is expanded
A Windsor councillor has said that creating up to 70,800 homes if Heathrow expansion plans go ahead would cause "absolute turmoil." He said a 3rd runway north-west of the airport could create the need to use greenbelt land for housing. However, almost unbelievably, a Heathrow spokesman said: "There will be little or no need for additional house-building over and above current local authority plans." The Airports Commission, said Heathrow expansion would create between 47,400 and 112,400 jobs by 2030, which in turn would require an extra 29,800 to 70,800 homes to be created in the surrounding area, including Windsor, Slough and London boroughs. There will be a public meeting in Windsor to discuss the Heathrow plans, before the consultation ends on 3rd February. Windsor already has an enormous housing problem in the area, and are having go consider building on green belt land (which is locally very unpopular), even with no new runway. And there is increasing urbanisation ..."The impact will be felt across the Thames Valley - it's commercial greed gone mad."
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Gatwick campaigners produce key information showing “no councillor in their right mind would vote for a new runway.”
Campaigners opposed to expansion at Gatwick have said no councillor in their right mind would vote for a new runway. Setting out the information people need, in order to write responses to the Airports Commission, opposing a Gatwick runway, the new paper by GACC (Gatwick Area Conservation Campaign) is Gatwick Unwrapped. Itcontains a detailed assessment of Gatwick's runway plans. Copies have been sent to all borough and county councillors in areas affected by Gatwick. GACC shows that the Commission has under-estimated the pressure a 2nd runway would place on both the road and rail networks, and on local housing and infrastructure of all kinds. The report shows the figures used by the Commission were based on a forecast of cars and passengers in 2030, when the new runway would not yet be operating at its full capacity - and impacts would be likely to be even greater in later years. GACC says expansion would lead to the creation of 60,000 jobs which, in turn, would lead to an influx of people to the area, resulting in 100,000 more vehicles on the roads every day and more than 90,000 extra people using rail services. The numbers of people to be subjected to more aircraft noise and new flight paths have also been underestimated.
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Heathrow Airport to set up a new Community Noise Forum, to help residents understand flight path issues
Heathrow Airport knows it has a real problem with aircraft noise, that could block its runway aspirations. The recent flight path changes and trials revealed a degree of anger and opposition to increased plane noise that stunned Heathrow staff. Thousands of people newly overflown, or under new concentrated flight paths, expressed their intense opposition to the noise nuisance inflicted on them. Heathrow, at its Consultative Committee meeting on 10th December, was keen to set up a new "Community Noise Forum" through which to try to defuse some of this local anger and dissatisfaction - and to try to win back some trust. For many, the repeated half truths and worse from the airport mean trust has broken down irretrievably. The minutes say: "Even the CAA had been regarded by some as not entirely independent in the process." There is already a "Noise Forum" (which replaced the Heathrow Noise & Track Keeping Working Group (NTKWG)), but that only involves HACAN and not other community groups. The new plan is to get something started as soon as possible, to give the appropriate community members and local authorities access to the raw data on flight path dispersal and concentration. A suitable chairperson needs to be located.
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Tunbridge Wells Borough Council votes almost unanimously against a 2nd Gatwick runway
A public council meeting held by Tunbridge Wells Borough Council on 7th January ended with an almost unanimous vote by councillors against a 2nd Gatwick runway. The motion against was carried with 40 votes in favour, one abstention and one against. [Other figures say 35:1]. Council leader David Jukes said: "This is democracy in action - you don't often see a lot of people attending a boring council meeting." Managers from Gatwick Airport were invited to attend the meeting but declined (they have also declined to appear before MPs in Parliament). The meeting heard that residents of west Kent and East Sussex are subjected to four times the amount of night flights as residents of West London, and that economic benefits of expansion would not be seen until maybe 2050, with very little effect on the GDP of Kent. A presentation by Joe Ratcliffe, the KCC aviation policy advisor, showed that some areas had seen a drastic increase in flights overhead, rising from around 10 flights per day in 2010 to between 40 and 50 flights in 2014. There was irritation that Gatwick and the CAA persist in saying there has been no change in flights or flight paths, but people are adamant there have been substantial changes. Kent expected to see little benefit from a 2nd Gatwick runway, but to experience a considerably greater noise burden.
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The case of the mysterious post boxes appearing in Heathrow’s terminals … for pro-Heathrow consultation forms
Post boxes have started to appear in the terminals Heathrow Airport urging customers to "help us expand Heathrow". They coincide with the final public consultation by the Airports Commission. John Stewart, chair of HACAN, said “Local people alerted us to these post boxes...... It seems as if Heathrow is using passengers as a weapon in its fight to get a third runway.” Questions are being asked by campaigners whether passengers are being handed forms as they come off their planes for them to send to Heathrow or put into the post boxes. John Stewart said he expected Heathrow may have miscalculated, as the Airports Commission is interested in solid arguments rather than simply filled in campaigning forms. It should be remembered that Gatwick and Ipsos Mori decided that consultation responses through an NGO, the Woodland Trust, should not be counted as responding that was was too easy. Neil Keveren, who chairs SHE (Stop Heathrow Expansion), commented that while local people have to campaign using their own time and resources, Heathrow is able to drum up support from passengers from around the globe who "have little interest in communities such as ours.”
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Second Sydney airport may threaten Blue Mountains’ World Heritage status
The United Nations' world heritage body will issue a "please explain" to the Australian Abbott government demanding a detailed report on the threat posed by the Badgerys Creek airport near Sydney, to the natural integrity of the Blue Mountains - just 8 km away. The new airport was given consent in April 2014. Any risk to World Heritage status is likely to hit the tourism industry, particularly nature-based tourism. The UN scrutiny comes as the Abbott government has been accused of a "sneaky" attempt to avoid World Heritage impacts being considered as part of the environmental approval for the new 24-hour airport. However, the Environment Department ruled on December 23 that World Heritage impacts must be examined. The Blue Mountains was finally accepted on the World Heritage list in December 2000, within a fortnight of the Howard government publicly announcing that plans for Badgerys Creek had been shelved. Problems caused by the airport include airborne fuel emissions, visual intrusion, and predicted aircraft noise of 70 to 80 decibels as "adversely affecting the natural quiet" of the Blue Mountains area. Claims that planes are "quieter and cleaner" than 15 years ago, and so not problem, are not believed.
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SHE (Stop Heathrow Expansion) suggested basic response to Airports Commission consultation
The Airports Commission consultation, on the three runway options, ends on 3rd February. It is important that as many people as possible submit their views, especially things the Commission has either left out - or got wrong. The local group for the Heathrow Villages, Harmondsworth in particular, has put together a simple response form - to help people who do not have the time, or expertise, to read through the 55+ long, difficult documents. The response form can be used by people in the Heathrow Villages area, or anyone else who would like to do so. People in the Villages stand to suffer particularly badly from either Heathrow runway scheme. They are already very close to Heathrow, already suffering local blight, noise and air pollution. They face loss of their homes by compulsory purchase, uncertain financial compensation, loss of their village character, history, facilities .... In view of the intense threats they face, the Villages have joined together in their campaigns, to speak with one voice and provide a unified front against the threats.
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Straight-talking letter to Stewart Wingate, from aggrieved resident tired of aircraft noise and inadequate Gatwick answers
Residents in Kent and East Sussex have been particularly irritated at perceived changes to flight paths over their areas, by planes arriving at Gatwick. Thousands of people is areas such as Penshurst, Chiddingstone, Tunbridge Wells, Hartfield, Ashurst, Hever etc deeply resent the intrusion of more aircraft above them, with more noise. They particularly resent the failure of Gatwick or the CAA to give straight answers to their questions. One such resident, at the end of his patience, has sent a letter to Stewart Wingate, setting out specific complaints about an aircraft on 31st December. The letter is copied to a large number of people, including Dame Deirdre Hutton at the CAA, and many MPs. And he does not pull his punches. Here are a couple of samples: "Quite why you would seemingly wilfully antagonise people when you are trying to curry favour for a new runway is absolutely beyond me." And "We all know what is going on – GAL has achieved 55 movements an hour at the cost of the destruction of the quality of life for those constantly overflown and that is something that must be changed; the CAA can assist by renouncing its risible current stance that ‘nothing has changed’."
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National Farmers’ Union seeks farmer views on airport expansion at Heathrow and Gatwick
The National Farmers' Union (NFU) is seeking views on the knock-on effects to farm businesses of airport runway expansion plans either at Heathrow or Gatwick. Depending on the final site chosen, there is a strong possibility that farm businesses and good agricultural land will be lost. A spokesman for Berkshire farmers J Rayner and Sons, based in Horton, near Slough, (map) said they were “very concerned” about possible expansion of Heathrow. He added: “The northern runway extension would go straight through our farm and finish us off. Even if they don’t take any of our land to build the runway, the infrastructure around here cannot cope. The family has farmed here since the 16th century. We are in the same boat as farmers affected by HS2. Our lives are on hold. We cannot do anything on the farm to invest, such as making units or renting farm properties, because of the threat of Heathrow expansion.” Another farmer, in Harmondsworth, said: “The whole situation at the moment is totally fluid. Nobody knows what’s going to be happening until the commission reports back." Farmers want adequate compensation.
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New briefing “Gatwick Unwrapped” by GACC provides comprehensive detail for Commission consultation responses
GACC has now had time to read the consultation documents from the Airports Commission carefully, and give consideration to the detailed impacts of a 2nd Gatwick runway. In a thorough analysis, carefully argued and fully referenced, entitled Gatwick Unwrapped, GACC has set out why the glossy promotion of Gatwick's runway plans - at substantial cost - by the airport, is not all it seems. Looking at the details, GACC says the runway has been sold to the public gift-wrapped in a massive advertising and lobbying campaign, but when "unwrapped" it falls far short of expectations. GACC has looked at a range of issues, including the numbers of jobs to be created; the available work force within the area; transport problems for road and rail; numbers of houses required ...... and so on. GACC wants everyone to respond to the current consultation (closing date 3 February) by saying ‘No’ to a new Gatwick runway. Gatwick Unwrapped provides facts and figures to help people respond. And Gatwick Unwrapped is being sent to all local councillors. Many local councils are due to vote in January on whether to support or oppose the runway. "When they see the full facts" says GACC Chairman, Brendon Sewill, "no councillor in their right mind would vote for a new runway."