Councillor Lister Talks to Putney & Roehampton
Lister on Putney
jubilation following High Court success plus congratulations to the winners of the window competition........
Great news from the High Court this week where the council forced a vital concession out of the Government on night flights.
The outcome means that ministers can no longer claim they are bound by EU law when setting operating restrictions for planes arriving before 6am.
This means that they can, if they wish, choose to ban those 747s which Wandsworth experts told the court were noisier than their official categorisation.
The ball is firmly in the Government's court. There is now nothing to stop them doing something to reduce the noise impact of these early morning flights when they come up with new controls next year. Watch this space!
More disturbing news from the other airports case at the High Court. Here our legal team has spelt out in graphic detail just what level of expansion the Government has in mind at Heathrow. Today there are 63 m passengers, after Terminal 5 there will be 89m and when a third runway opens 116m.
But it gets worse. Hidden away in the figures are calculations that Heathrow could take a further 32m passengers just by squeezing out extra capacity across the airport - including use of both existing runways for landings and take offs.
That's a massive 148m passengers at Heathrow compared to 63m today. Our complaint is that people were simply not told this when the Government was launching its plans for a third runway. Where will it all end?
Finally, on a more festive note congratulations to the winners of the Putney Commercial Forum's shop window competition.
The winners - Monsoon, Next, The Sewing Rooms and Otis Jaxon - deserve special praise while all those who took part have helped to create a real spirit of Christmas cheer in Putney this year.
Edward Lister
Edward Lister is the Leader of Wandsworth Council and a member for Putney's Thamesfield ward.
