Will Heathrow Ever Be Safe From Expansion
MPs ‘fighting the tide of history’ in proposing two more runways for Heathrow
Campaign group HACAN, representing residents under the Heathrow flight paths, has claimed the group of MPs who are proposing a third and fourth runway at Heathrow are ‘fighting the tide of history’.
This week the Free Enterprise Group of Conservative MPs called for two more runways at Heathrow as part of a package of measures designed to stimulate the economy. The proposals come out of a report, co-authored by Spelthorne MP Kwasi Kwarteng, which the group published earlier this year.
HACAN Chair John Stewart said, “These MPs are fighting the tide of history if they believe it is possible to build one, let alone two, new runways at Heathrow. All the political parties have recognized the difficulty of expanding Heathrow and are officially opposed to a third runway.”
Stewart added, “The irony is that, if a fourth runway ever saw the light of day, it would be built south of the existing airport, straight through Kwasi Kwarteng’s Spelthorne constituency.”
The Civil Aviation Authority revealed earlier this year that 725,000 people live under the Heathrow flight paths, that is, 28% of all people disturbed by aircraft noise across the whole of Europe. In 2003 the Department for Transport estimated that a third runway would affect at least another 150,000 people.
July 12, 2012
