SHE Chair’s report to the 2024 AGM
We’ve produced a full report on our activities since our last AGM.
The 18 months since then has been relatively quiet, as following the Covid pandemic Heathrow officially put its expansion plans on pause while they tried to rebuild their business and their income; SHE hasn’t done the same. We’ve continued to produce newsletters when there’s news to share and have continued to interact with the media so our campaign doesn’t disappear from public view.
Chair of Stop Heathrow Expansion Justine Bayley - conducting the 2024 AGM with guest speakers John McDonnell MP and Paul McGuinness, the Chair of the No 3rd Runway Coalition.
One major change in this period has been the creation of CISHA which was set up to scrutinise Heathrow. SHE was initially sceptical but decided to engage with CISHA – and have found it a useful channel to question the actions, and lack of action, of the airport – which has such an impact on everyone’s lives round here.
SHE continues to engage with other groups and individuals who share our objectives which we believe increases the effectiveness of our campaign.
The change of Chief Executive at Heathrow late in 2023 made us wonder whether there would be any major changes to their expansion plans. Announcements were promised and deadlines whizzed past but so far the only definite news is that Heathrow is reassessing all its plans and will be making announcements ‘in due course’. So we continue to sit on the edges of our chairs!
The new Heathrow CEO, Thomas Woldbye, attended the recent CISHA Open Forum and told the audience a little of his impressions of his first six months in post, and then answered questions. Not all his answers were direct replies but there were a number of interesting points which we can share with you:
He is surprised by how close the airport is to its neighbours (and presumably therefore, how much its activities affect those neighbours)
When asked about the 3rd Runway he said it hadn’t been shelved; he was looking at the plans. He said all neighbours would be consulted as the plans developed.
On night flights he said there were 101 days without flights after 11.30pm – which means 264 days last year with night flights! He also said there were only about 600 night flights a year – does this fit with your perceptions?
He said mixed mode is not being considered as an alternative expansion strategy because of Heathrow’s commitment to respite.
When the planned alterations to the runway infrastructure are complete there will be alternation on easterly take offs. We know these physical changes will have a very negative impact both on Longford, during construction and subsequently when in use, and on Cranford.
He appears to be counting on SAFs to counter the airport’s increasing contribution to climate change and thinks there should be more political pressure to accelerate the scale of production – but SAFs are not fully sustainable as they’re still putting CO2 into the atmosphere; you may have followed the link to Neil Spurrier’s blog in our last newsletter which explains the problems with SAFs.
At the CISHA meeting, when I asked when Thomas Woldbye would he lead Heathrow into having a meaningful dialogue with those whose lives it blights, he responded that he believed they already did so – is that your perception too?
I think all this shows Heathrow has yet to make meaningful changes. There is still a need for our campaign, and I hope you will continue to support us. Thank you.
Justine Bayley
Chair, SHE
April 2024