What expansion of Heathrow Airport means for our area

12.06.00pm GMT Sat 22nd Dec 2007

Most people have heard of the Government's plans for the expansion of Heathrow:

• To build a 3rd runway

• To end runway alternation (the practice where planes landing over London switch runways at 3pm to give residents relief from the noise) and replace it with mixed-mode (where planes will land and take-off on both runways at the same time). The may start as early as 2010.

Aircraft numbers at Heathrow Airport are to increase

• Increasing the number of night flights, raising the average per night from 16 to 18.

The Department for Transport says that mixed-mode will end if a third runway is introduced. If it is not (and there is a history of broken promises at Heathrow), aircraft numbers will exceed 800,000 a year. Our area would be seriously affected by increased aircraft numbers:

Brixton, Clapham, Stockwell and Vauxhall

Aircraft landing all day long when west wind is blowing - maybe more than one every 90 seconds for much longer periods throughout the day - as there will be flights heading for all three runways.

Camberwell

Aircraft landing all day long when west wind is blowing - a big increase in aircraft overhead as there will be more flights on the existing runways and also flights heading for the new runway.

The World Development Movement calculates that the annual carbon dioxide emissions of a 3rd runway alone will equal the entire CO2 emissions produced by Kenya in one year.

The number of flights using Heathrow could be cut by around 100,000 a year if there were no flights to and from destinations where there already is a good rail alternative, according to research by HACAN. Paris, with 60 flights a day, is Heathrow's top destination, Amsterdam in 2nd place, has 50 daily flights and Brussels (two hours from London by train) has 30 daily flights.

The Government is not publicising its long consultation document in Lambeth, but you can contact the Department for Transport and comment - we will experience a sharp increase in noise and pollution if the plan almost to double the number of Heathrow flights is not abandoned. You can fill in the consultation form online at http://surveys.globalepanel.com/wix/p48537354.aspx or request a paper copy of the form by calling 0870 1226 236.

The consultation will run until 27th February 2008 - please make sure your views are heard. The Government says it will announce a decision by the end of 2008.

By 2020, with a third runway in place, the number of aircraft using Heathrow airport will be over 700,000 a year.

Latest news - 'Climate costs fiddled' for third runway

The Independent (13 December 2007) claims that a "bogus accounting trick" has been used to justify building the third runway and ministers have seriously underestimated the environmental impact of the development. Campaigners and MPs have warned that a cost analysis of the project's impact on the climate came up with a figure which was only a third of that set out in a global warming study for the Government by the former Treasury official Sir Nicholas Stern.

The consultation paper on the expansion of Heathrow said the cost of climate change caused by the project would be £4.8bn. But Friends of the Earth insist that the true figure, based on Sir Nicholas' estimate, was £13.4bn.

The Liberal Democrats have stated "The Government has massaged the figures to hide the impact of this unwanted and unnecessary expansion. As a result, it has given the green light to one of the very projects that will stop it meeting its own carbon reduction targets. The cost to the environment and the economy will be dreadful."

The public has until 27 February to respond to the proposals for a third runway, a sixth terminal and changes to take-off and landing patterns and aircraft approach routes.

[Sources: HACAN, and the website of Susan Kramer MP.]