EXCLUSIVE: New Heathrow runway plan is revealed
Heathrow is planning a new runway south-west of the airport, the Standard reveals today.
The development in the Stanwell Moor area is one of two or three options to be submitted to the Davies Commission into airport expansion, according to well-placed sources.
Bosses at Heathrow have torn up the blueprint for a third runway to the north of the existing two runways, which was backed by the previous Labour government but ran into strong opposition from Londoners and environmentalists.
The Standard has been told the favoured new option is to build on land stretching from the existing airport towards Stanwell Moor village and north of local reservoirs. This could mean few properties being demolished.
Alternatively, the village could be significantly pulled down, say aviation experts, with generous compensation for locals. Heathrow chiefs are understood to have come up with the plan after examining at least 50 options for expansion.
It is expected to include a series of measures to mitigate additional noise from tens of thousands of extra flights. The bosses have already rejected most proposals, including one for a new four-runway “superhub” airport close to Slough or 15 minutes from Oxford.
A plan from a group led by Concorde’s longest-serving pilot, Captain Jock Lowe — which would see the two existing runways extended to create four — has also been dismissed by Heathrow.
Aviation experts say the Stanwell Moor proposal shows that Heathrow is seeking to minimise the noise impact of a bigger airport, seen as the main obstacle to its expansion.
It would also be in Spelthorne, a borough housing many Heathrow staff and whose Conservative MP Kwasi Kwarteng has led calls for a third or even a fourth runway. The development would not be expected to in- crease disturbance significantly for most residents living under the flightpaths of the current two runways.
But there could be more noise over Feltham, Twickenham, Ham, Richmond Park and Wimbledon Common, which is likely to spark a major campaign — including by Stanwell Moor residents — against the scheme.
John Stewart, the chairman of anti-Heathrow expansion group HACAN, said: “This is an attempt to reduce the impact for residents but our concern remains over the huge overall increase in numbers of planes over London a third runway would bring.” The proposal effectively meant the plan for a northern third runway had “no chance of seeing the light of day,” he added.
Daniel Moylan, the Mayor’s chief aviation adviser, said: “Even to discuss this is to add a new blight to the lives of thousands of Londoners. It is further proof Heathrow expansion is environmentally and politically impossible.”
Heathrow has not yet made a decision on whether to put forward one scheme as its “favoured” option when it makes its submission to the Airports Commission, headed by Sir Howard Davies.
Spelthorne councillor Marian Rough, of the Heathrow Airport consultative committee, said there would be local opposition to a runway affecting Stanwell Moor but added: “We can’t afford not to consider all alternatives.”
Heathrow Airport declined to comment, saying it will give full details of its submission in mid-July.
‘If it got any worse, I could not live here. It is dreadful’
RESIDENTS of a village next to Terminal 5 today said a third runway would destroy their community.
People in Stanwell Moor said that when there are no planes flying over, the village of 1,300 residents — which has a hall, two pubs, a few shops, nearby stables and the River Coln running through it — is a pleasant place to live.
But they warned that it would be ruined forever if the third runway plan was given the go-ahead. They feared the village would become “blighted” like nearby Sipson, where many residents have moved out because of Heathrow noise.
However, some admitted that the noise — which in some houses reaches up to 100 decibels during landings and take-offs — and pollution levels are already so bad that they would happily take compulsory purchase orders. Kathleen Croft, 69, whose house is less than half a mile away from Terminal 5, said: “Normally, living here is like living in Iraq. You cannot talk to somebody standing next to you in my garden.”
Mrs Croft, chairwoman of Stanwell Moor Residents Association, said at peak periods there is one flight every 45 seconds. She added: “If it got any worse than this I could not live in it, I just couldn’t, it really is dreadful.”
John Leer, 79, said of the proposal: “In one way, I’m against it but in another way I am all for it because this village has gone down so much because of the airport.”
However, mother of five Amy Pearce, 37, who has lived in the village for 17 years, said: “The only time it bothers me is when we’re in the garden entertaining with friends and you’re talking and you have to say, ‘Wait a minute’ when the plane goes over.”
Miranda Bryant
Heathrow is planning a new runway south-west of the airport, the Standard reveals today.
The development in the Stanwell Moor area is one of two or three options to be submitted to the Davies Commission into airport expansion, according to well-placed sources.
Bosses at Heathrow have torn up the blueprint for a third runway to the north of the existing two runways, which was backed by the previous Labour government but ran into strong opposition from Londoners and environmentalists.
The Standard has been told the favoured new option is to build on land stretching from the existing airport towards Stanwell Moor village and north of local reservoirs. This could mean few properties being demolished.
Alternatively, the village could be significantly pulled down, say aviation experts, with generous compensation for locals. Heathrow chiefs are understood to have come up with the plan after examining at least 50 options for expansion.
It is expected to include a series of measures to mitigate additional noise from tens of thousands of extra flights. The bosses have already rejected most proposals, including one for a new four-runway “superhub” airport close to Slough or 15 minutes from Oxford.
A plan from a group led by Concorde’s longest-serving pilot, Captain Jock Lowe — which would see the two existing runways extended to create four — has also been dismissed by Heathrow.
Aviation experts say the Stanwell Moor proposal shows that Heathrow is seeking to minimise the noise impact of a bigger airport, seen as the main obstacle to its expansion.
It would also be in Spelthorne, a borough housing many Heathrow staff and whose Conservative MP Kwasi Kwarteng has led calls for a third or even a fourth runway. The development would not be expected to in- crease disturbance significantly for most residents living under the flightpaths of the current two runways.
But there could be more noise over Feltham, Twickenham, Ham, Richmond Park and Wimbledon Common, which is likely to spark a major campaign — including by Stanwell Moor residents — against the scheme.
John Stewart, the chairman of anti-Heathrow expansion group HACAN, said: “This is an attempt to reduce the impact for residents but our concern remains over the huge overall increase in numbers of planes over London a third runway would bring.” The proposal effectively meant the plan for a northern third runway had “no chance of seeing the light of day,” he added.
Daniel Moylan, the Mayor’s chief aviation adviser, said: “Even to discuss this is to add a new blight to the lives of thousands of Londoners. It is further proof Heathrow expansion is environmentally and politically impossible.”
Heathrow has not yet made a decision on whether to put forward one scheme as its “favoured” option when it makes its submission to the Airports Commission, headed by Sir Howard Davies.
Spelthorne councillor Marian Rough, of the Heathrow Airport consultative committee, said there would be local opposition to a runway affecting Stanwell Moor but added: “We can’t afford not to consider all alternatives.”
Heathrow Airport declined to comment, saying it will give full details of its submission in mid-July.
‘If it got any worse, I could not live here. It is dreadful’
RESIDENTS of a village next to Terminal 5 today said a third runway would destroy their community.
People in Stanwell Moor said that when there are no planes flying over, the village of 1,300 residents — which has a hall, two pubs, a few shops, nearby stables and the River Coln running through it — is a pleasant place to live.
But they warned that it would be ruined forever if the third runway plan was given the go-ahead. They feared the village would become “blighted” like nearby Sipson, where many residents have moved out because of Heathrow noise.
However, some admitted that the noise — which in some houses reaches up to 100 decibels during landings and take-offs — and pollution levels are already so bad that they would happily take compulsory purchase orders. Kathleen Croft, 69, whose house is less than half a mile away from Terminal 5, said: “Normally, living here is like living in Iraq. You cannot talk to somebody standing next to you in my garden.”
Mrs Croft, chairwoman of Stanwell Moor Residents Association, said at peak periods there is one flight every 45 seconds. She added: “If it got any worse than this I could not live in it, I just couldn’t, it really is dreadful.”
John Leer, 79, said of the proposal: “In one way, I’m against it but in another way I am all for it because this village has gone down so much because of the airport.”
However, mother of five Amy Pearce, 37, who has lived in the village for 17 years, said: “The only time it bothers me is when we’re in the garden entertaining with friends and you’re talking and you have to say, ‘Wait a minute’ when the plane goes over.”
Miranda Bryant
