Heathrow expansion: airport faces fresh demands over revived plans for third runway

The council set out fresh demands for Heathrow in response to the airport reviving its expansion plans.

The authority agreed to update its policy position on Heathrow’s planned developments on December 3. This includes reaffirming its long-standing objection to a third runway, opposing any increase in night flights, challenging airspace modernisation and welcoming renewed efforts on easterly alternation.

Lib Dem councillor Phil Giesler said: “We all recognise the economic value that Heathrow brings to the wider economy and to our borough. Many of our residents have and continue to benefit from the value of having the major UK airport on our doorstep. The direct and indirect employment benefits for us are significant.

“But over the last few years, Heathrow has been disingenuous with its neighbours and stakeholders. Under the guise of many cases of improvement, Heathrow’s real agenda has been to secure support for significant growth for the airport over the coming decades.”

Councillor Giesler argued Heathrow has ‘failed to show that a model of expansion of their airport is consistent with the climate and environmental criteria of this government’. He added: “While sustainable aircraft aviation fuels are a positive step, there’s no clear plan in terms of when they will make a meaningful difference to emission levels.

“Noise remains a significant concern, with the impacts of precision-based navigation still unclear. Without a detailed programme to manage these impacts and with no sign of tangible benefits, Heathrow have not made the case for expansion in flight numbers. This is the core of our position.”

The council’s approval of the updated policy position means it reaffirmed its long-standing opposition to a third runway at Heathrow. A report by council officers said that while the airport does not have any formal plans to progress a third runway, it has ‘made clear in recent interviews and documents… that it still considers a third runway as part of its long-term development plans’.

The authority also reiterated its long-standing objection to any increase in night flights, while urging the airport to do more to protect residents from the disruption they cause. It called on Heathrow to set out a clear timetable for consultation on airspace modernisation and rule out the possibility of increasing the overall number of flights.

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The council also welcomed the airport’s renewed efforts to provide residents with greater periods of respite from aircraft noise while operating on easterlies, as it called on the airport to install these measures as soon as possible.

A Heathrow spokesperson said: “As the UK’s hub airport we play a unique role in supporting jobs and trade across the whole country and we will always seek to balance this role with our responsibility to be a good neighbour. We have significantly reduced our noise footprint in recent years and our long-held commitment on easterly alternation will provide predictable respite to more communities.”