Campaigner warns Heathrow expansion plan risks ignoring local communities
The campaigner warns against any expansion, which he argues would be devastating both to local residents and the environment
A campaigner fighting against the growth of Luton Airport has raised concerns that a new Heathrow expansion plan could come at the expense of residents living near the west London hub.
Pete White, a member of Friends of Wigmore Park Stop Luton Airport Expansion, was responding to the announcement that billionaire hotel tycoon Surinder Arora’s group has partnered with Singapore’s Changi Airport on an alternative proposal for a third runway at Heathrow.
Mr White warned that any new runway would have consequences for people living nearby.
“It will affect somebody. It will affect where someone lives, where someone has lived, maybe for all their lives. That is more important than a runway,” he said.
He expressed scepticism about assurances that the Arora Group’s design – a 2,800-metre runway – would avoid the costly and disruptive diversion of the M25.
Mr White also argued that expansion proposals are too often driven by financial motives.
“All airport expansion plans are about the money, the income, the profits. It’s not about the quality of life of people, and that’s something which really needs to be put in the forefront of all airport planning applications, not just the ones at Heathrow and Luton,” he said.
Citing examples from the continent, he pointed to how other major European airports had managed growth differently.
“If you look at Paris Charles de Gaulle, Frankfurt, Amsterdam - they looked to the future decades ago,” he said. “You look at how the major European airports have planned their expansions, you’ll see the major difference between the way a certain airport operator thinks, and the way UK airport operators think.”
Arora, one of the largest landowners at Heathrow, said his plan – known as Heathrow West – would “reduce the costs, the delivery timescales and significant construction risks building across the M25 alike”.
The Arora Group, working with infrastructure company Bechtel, has suggested the runway could be operational by 2035, with a terminal opening in stages by 2040.
The Government is reviewing the competing expansion proposals ahead of a planned update to the Airports National Policy Statement later this year.