London: Heathrow Expansion “Can Be Stopped”

Opponents of a third runway at Heathrow have taken their protest to the Tory Party Conference, following similar efforts at the Labour Party and Lib-Dem conferences.

Activist Christine Taylor of the “No 3rd Runway Coalition” tells Felix Magazine that the issue is central to the future quality of life of Londoners, and that her group believes it can eventually prevail over multi-billion pound corporate interests:

“I am part of the Stop Heathrow Expansion group and we are here with the No 3rd Runway Coalition, that is a group of all the small residents’ groups and campaign groups, mostly in West London but all around London that are opposed to a third runway at Heathrow.”

“The flight paths cover such a broad area, people from Windsor, Ascot, Maidenhead. We’d like to have the Queen but at the moment she’s quite silent. I don’t think she wants a third runway because it’s slowly destroying Windsor with the aircraft noise.

“We need to have a wake-up call to the sorts of things aircraft noise is doing to someof our attractive, historical places. We have decided to come to all the Party conferences because the MPs will have a vote. They will be asked to vote on the national policy statement, which is a mechanism by which they can build a third runway.

“Essentially we need to speak to some of the MPs and try and influence them because Heathrow has spent a fortune, many millions of pounds, lobbying and sponsoring events. They will be here telling people it is good for the country but we have people that are looking at the economic case and they are saying that it is not.

Battling for 15 Years

“I have been fighting this since 2002. I started as a housewife with two very small children who wanted to help with having an impact locally but since then we have had lots of additional issues like climate change which we didn’t have back then, so we have become aware of the bigger picture. It is no longer just about our home – there will be about 3,750 home destroyed – it is about the bigger picture of what that means to the south-east. And perhaps the wider country.

“Up to £17bn needs to be spent that Transport for London (TfL) says will be needed for transport infrastructure because obviously if they are going to increase the number of flights by a quarter of a million, people will need to get to the airport in some way. It is a foreign-owned airport, it is not even British-owned anymore. It’s Spanish, it’s Chinese, I think a lecturers’ pension scheme owns a small percentage but largely it’s foreign-owned investors.

“Whose country are they fighting for? It’s certainly not Britain. If we foolishly think the investors are even remotely interested in what we as individuals have to pay to service their runway, we are kidding ourselves. They are only interested in profit. But a profit for this country? We as a group can’t see it.

“I live parallel with the existing second runway so I will be sandwiched between the second and third runway, if it goes ahead. We are fortunate that Hillingdon Borough Council, where the airport is situated and where the biggest impact will be, have been funding us. It has cost me a lot in other terms, because when I started in 2002 I had two small children and they are now aged 20 and 23 and they don’t know anything else but Mum on a protest demonstration. I have had to sacrifice a lot and my children have as well.

“But it has been worth it and I think it is winnable. It is not just about homes but is also about vast climate changes across the world. I see the sort of world my children are coming into where they can’t afford a home, with my son starting university next week and the level of debt he will have to take on. And yet we are spending taxpayer’s money to fund an airport so that foreign investors can benefit”.

 

by Bob Graham

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