RESPONDING TO THE HEATHROW MASTERPLAN CONSULTATION

At our recent series of public meetings, we promised to provide some guidance for responding to the latest consultation. On this page, you can find more information about issues you may want to raise if you are responding to the consultation. There is information on the local area, local infrastructure, property, flight operations, transport, climate, air pollution, health, noise, noise insulation, waterways, biodiversity, historic environment and waste. Scroll down for more.

Let’s be clear, Heathrow is not consulting on whether or not you agree with a 3rd Runway or any form of expansion. Heathrow is asking you to tell them how they can make it more appetising and delightful for everyone - they call it mitigation. Their glossy documents show a green and pleasant land, with families picnicking beside the runway. Residents are not being fooled by this, Heathrow expansion cannot be ‘prettied up’ with any form of mitigation.

Having read the online and paper questionnaire, we suggest residents simply respond to the consultation by either writing a letter and sending it to Freepost LHR AIRPORT EXPANSION CONSULTATION (no stamp needed) or send an email to feedback@heathrowconsultation.com (if you don’t mind, we’d appreciate you copying us into your response just in case it doesn’t reach Heathrow).

Of course, you do not need to respond right now, the consultation closes on 13th September and we will be adding more detail here as and when it comes to light, however here are a few suggestions to get you started.

  • First and foremost, despite the fact Heathrow is promoting this scheme as a done deal you can still say - NO THIRD RUNWAY, NO HEATHROW EXPANSION.

  • NO to the destruction of homes - Heathrow puts the figure of homes to be destroyed at around 750, this is an indicative figure because we now know that further properties would be required in West Drayton to accommodate a feeder lane on the M4 into their new mega car park.

  • NO to nearly 6,000 homes, immediately surrounding the development, being rendered uninhabitable because the increase in noise and air pollution would be dangerous to human health.

  • NO to the increased noise and air pollution from the increase in flights - expansion will increase flight numbers to 756,000 flights, an increase of over 280,000 flights each year based on today’s flight numbers. Heathrow want us to believe that this increase in flights will actually reduce the noise footprint and will not increase air pollution!

  • NO to being overflown for the first time - residents in Hayes will have aircraft flying at just 500ft above their homes from one of the new departure routes of the 3rd runway. However, it is not just residents in Hayes. Many residents across London and the Home Counties are set to find themselves under new flight paths, these flight paths are not revealed in this consultation and will not come to light until 2022 - this is after Heathrow expects planning approval for a 3rd runway.

  • NO to increased air pollution from the increase in road traffic - even though Heathrow has said there will not be any extra airport-related passenger traffic as a result of a 3rd runway, their plans tell a different story. They plan to increase the number of car parking spaces by 13,000 with the addition of two massive car parks (one in Sipson and one in Stanwell) and an upgrade of the multi-storey car park at T4. When Heathrow say airport-related traffic, they refer only to those vehicles that actually cross onto the airport campus. The new car park in Sipson will NOT be on the airport campus.

  • NO to road-user charging - Heathrow plans to charge passenger vehicles to enter the airport, this could be up to £40. Road-user charging will, more than likely, push vehicles onto local roads.

  • NO to more HGVs - cargo is set to double with an expanded Heathrow and this will, ultimately, lead to more HGVs on the road network.

Here’s some further points you may like to raise in your response, arranged by topic area:

 Local Area

  • Residents temporarily forced to relocate during construction period.

  • Shortage of rented accommodation caused by construction workers moving to the area.

  • Relocation of community facilities.

  • Community facilities will experience different noise and other effects compared to today. 

  • Permanent change to communities around the airport, including the number of homes, community facilities and environment. 

  • Negative effects on recreational spaces and routes during construction 

  • Destruction of Harmondsworth Primary School

  • Displacement of Heathrow Special Needs Centre

  • Displacement of Stanwell Moor, Moor Lane and Pinglestone Allotments.

  • Multiple construction support sites outside the boundary of the airport

  • 24-hour working, seven days a week, including Bank Holidays, will be required for construction activities that ensure the new runway is operational as soon as possible.

Local Infrastructure

  • Relocation of Longford Substation

  • Diversion of Bath Road Sewer

  • 4 additional fuel tanks at Perry Oaks site plus new fuel storage facilities on airport site

  • New waste water treatment plant (sewage works).

  • Doubling of freight handling capacity – redeveloping and expanding existing sites to the south of the Southern Runway – more warehouses and a new truck park.

  • New hotels are planned in the Central Terminal Area (CTA), next to T5, at Hatton Cross and immediately south of the Northern Parkway. 

  • Relocation of Immigration Removal Centre to Faggs Road in Bedfont.

Property

  • Heathrow to buy eligible homes for market value plus a home loss payment of 25%. This applies to eligible properties for qualifying home owners in the Compulsory Purchase Zone and Wider Property Offer Zone. 

  • Home owners in CPZ being asked to enter into a Home Purchase Bond even before development consent order is submitted.

  • Homes in WPZ won’t be purchased until development consent is granted.

  • Under the Statutory Compensation Code home owners to be offered a 10% home loss payment, currently capped at £63,000 and tenants in CPZ who have been in occupation for longer than 12 months will receive just £6,300 per household. 

Flight Operations

  • Proposed Night Flight ban between 23.00 and 05.30

  • Minimum of 7 hours of respite for all communities between 22.00 and 07.00.

  • Runway alternation to continue. 

  • Proposal to rotate use of each of the 3 runways every day so that they may be used in turn for landings, departures or in “mixed mode” (landing and departures).

  • Use one runway for early morning arrivals from 05.30, the other two runways would be use from 06.00.

  • Heathrow to explore the use of ‘managed preference’ to reduce the effects of aircraft noise for communities. Proposals to be presented in the DCO application.

  • 25,000 additional flights each year before any third runway is built.

  • Claim that environmental effects of these extra flights is ‘relatively limited’

Transport 

  • Diversions of the M25, A4 and A3044 including changes to junctions, roundabouts and new link roads.

  • A new Southern Road Tunnel to connect to Beacon Road Junction roundabout 

  • Destruction and replacement of Colnbrook rail branch line

  • 2 new massive car parks for 24,000 and 22,000 cars and new mutil-storey car park near T4 – increasing total number of parking spaces by over 3,000.

  • Expansion of coach and bus hub, including new routes but no financial commitment to help delivery.

  • State that might be prepared to contribute to Western and Southern rail access schemes but gives no specific commitment of precise amount.

  • Claim that doubling of freight will not double number of vehicles or HGVs on the road.

  • 2 new areas for HGV drivers to wait before heading to the Cargo Centre.

  • The construction of new roads, the diversion of existing roads and other works to move services will lead to both temporary and permanent effects.

  • Other construction activity, including additional trips produced by construction vehicles and workforce travel, may also lead to disruption for travellers. 

  • Increased passenger and colleague numbers and other operational changes at the expanded Heathrow, will lead to changes in travel patterns, which could result in negative effects for transport network users. 

  • Changes in traffic volumes and speeds will also result in changes in driver stress at various locations, which is expected in some cases to be negative. 

  • An increase in crowding is forecast on services between some Network Rail and London Underground stations, including on the Piccadilly line. 

Climate

  • The greenhouse gas emissions from the DCO Project are considered to have a significant negative effect. This is because the DCO Project would lead to GHG emissions in all phases of development, over a long period of time, and emitted to the global atmosphere. 

  • Heathrow’s current GHG emissions are around 20.8 MtCO2e per year. Air transport accounts for over 96% of Heathrow’s GHG emissions, with surface access transport contributing 3%. 

  • Heathrow claim that GHG emissions from the DCO Project in 2050 are calculated to be equivalent to 1.2% of the UK 2050 carbon target set by the Climate Change Act 2008. This comparison excludes GHG emissions from international aviation and ignores the latest CCC advice and the moves towards Net Zero.

  • The DCO Project without mitigation scenario results in an additional 184.Mt CO2e– a whopping 38% increase in Heathrow carbon emissions, over the period 2022 to 2050.

  • Expansion would mean that 6.57Mt of carbon extra being emitted every year.

  • Heathrow claim that much of this carbon will be offset by the airlines but provides no calculations of how a lower level of carbon emissions can be achieved whilst increasing flight numbers. 

  • The non-CO2 impacts of aviation are not considered at all. 

Air Pollution

  • Construction activities have the potential to affect the quality of air locally. 

  • The flights and road traffic that will use an expanded Heathrow will produce emissions that ‘could increase’ levels of pollutants in the air. 

Health

  • Expansion will affect people’s physical health and mental wellbeing, particularly for children, the elderly and those with long-term illnesses.

  • Likely to be worse health and wellbeing amongst those are forced to move home or have their education disrupted. 

  • The changed identity of the communities near the airport will affect how those who remain feel about their community which may affect their health and wellbeing. 

  • Open spaces, sports facilities and some walking or cycling routes will be affected by the land required. Replacements are proposed, but there may be times before they could be fully re-provided.

  • Having construction activity and the construction workforce near local communities close to the site boundary or construction traffic routes may affect health and wellbeing. 

 Noise

  • The effects of expansion will be negative and significant for many communities, with a large number of people experiencing increase in exposure to aircraft noise. 

  • The third runway will mean that many communities have aircraft flying over them for the first time. 

  • During construction, noise will significantly affect some residents, schools and places of worship in areas closest to the new runway. 

  • Heathrow claim that 25,000 extra flights would only result in ‘very small changes’ to the overall noise level.

  • Significant effects from aircraft ground noise have been identified for some residents adjacent to the new runway and taxiways. 

  • There will also be significant effects from changes in road traffic noise for some residents, associated with new or altered roads linked to the expanded airport. 

Noise Insulation

Heathrow will offer three schemes, each one to address slightly different circumstances. 

  • Scheme 1 – for eligible properties (within LAeq,16hr 60dB noise contour) affected by aircraft noise, a full package of sound insulation to habitable rooms 

  • Scheme 2 – for eligible properties (Road Noise equivalent to - Day time: LAeq,16hr 63dB
    Night time: LAeq,8hr 55dB) to address noise from construction, road or rail sources 

  • Scheme3 – a £3000 contribution to a package of sound insulation treatment (for properties within LAeq,16hr 57dB or the full Lden 55dB noise contours of an expanded airport, whichever is the bigger). 

  • Community buildings in the 60dB LAeq, 16hr contour will be now be eligible for mitigation (current scheme is at 63dB).

Waterways

  • Significant negative effects are predicted on the Wraysbury River, River Colne, Longford River and Duke of Northumberland’s River as a result of passing the rivers beneath the new runway in a proposed covered river corridor. 

  • Loss of flood plain of River Colne and Colne Brook.

  • A significant negative effect as a result of the infilling of lakes, resulting in a loss of open water and associated habitat. 

  • Significant cumulative negative effects to the River Colne from the effects of expansion.

Biodiversity

  • Construction will result in the loss of some habitats across the area, including within the Colne Valley Regional Park, Staines Moor Site of Special Scientific Interest and a number of Local Wildlife Sites. 

  • This habitat loss will also result in wildlife being lost or displaced from areas on which they have depended for foraging, sheltering or as movement corridors. 

  • The presence of people, artificial lighting and the noise associated with activities during both construction and operation of the airport will also result in the displacement of wildlife. 

  • New structures and buildings will change the distribution of water (either within the ground or moving across the surface) in the environment. Structures such as basements, the lining of new river channels and the control of water running off new sealed surfaces can all change the water environment locally. 

  • For some habitats this can alter their nature and result in a transition between different forms (for example a change from a wet woodland to a dry woodland, thereby changing the associated plants and animals). 

  • The use of road vehicles, specialist equipment and aircraft all lead to the production of exhaust emissions. These emissions all include nitrogen oxides that can damage plants.

  • Significant adverse effects are expected to occur as a result of the permanent loss of good quality agricultural land. 

  • There is a risk that certain sand and gravel mineral resources could be lost as a result of the land required.

     

Historic Environment

  • Construction will result in the loss of part of Harmondsworth Conservation Area and some listed buildings within it. 

  • In the Longford area, all designated built heritage assets and the Conservation Area will be lost. 

  • Heritage assets of archaeological interest within the construction footprint will also be lost and there is the potential for significant effects on remaining historic landscape character.

  • During operation of an expanded Heathrow, noise levels may change for several historic buildings and landscapes resulting in the potential for significant effects: 

  • To the east of the airport: the Royal Botanic Garden World Heritage Site at Kew, Chiswick House, Syon Park, Richmond Park, Osterley Park, Richmond Terrace Walk and Terrace and Buccleuch Gardens (Grade II)

  • To the west of the airport: six Registered Historic Park and Gardens of the Royal Estate Windsor, and two those at Eton College and Ditton Park. 

Waste

  • The waste assessment focusses on the capacity of the surrounding waste facilities to manage (or otherwise) the waste arising from expansion. 

  • Significant effects may be caused if the waste results in a large reduction in landfill void space or a severe capacity gap in treatment infrastructure available in the local or regional area. 

  • Expansion will lead to an acceleration in loss of waste treatment and disposal capacity. 

  • The preliminary assessment concludes that expansion is considered to have a significant negative effect on waste treatment and disposal capacity.