Government Allows Heathrow to Bring MORE Misery to South and East London

Watch out pro-aviation expansion NIMBYS - it could all be coming to a sky near you!

As if London City Airport is not enough of a blight on the most densely populated area in the country, it seems that the 'government' become ever yet more disingenuous alongside the aviation sector to expand at ANY COST to communities or the environment.

Plans to increase the amount of flights to Heathrow is going to affect homes as far as 30 miles away from the airport. Of course in south and east London this takes no account of the 50% increase in flights from London City Airport, approved by the very ignorant and totalitarian run London Borough of Newham.

You'll be heart warmed to know that this government made NO attempt to highlight this change to the very people who would be most affected - they made no attempt to directly consult with residents beyond West London. It's identical to the LCA consultation fiasco - if you could even call it a 'consultation'. Thankfully John Stewart of HACAN Clearskies has been the key individual to highlight the effect of changes at Heathrow on south and east London - if it was not for his continued significant and committed involvement the communities soon to be affected would still have been kept in the dark by this morally lacking government. You can check the barmy paperwork from the Department for Transport on 'Adding Capacity' at Heathrow HERE.

The Times article (which we recommend you read) stated: Aircraft will take different routes from the holding stacks to the new turning points, meaning there will be winners and losers in terms of noise.

Residents in many parts of inner London will no longer have aircraft passing within earshot, but millions of people in outer London and the Home Counties will either be exposed to aircraft noise for the first time or find many more aircraft flying directly overhead. The main losers will be those living close to the new turning points, which will be over Reading to the west and Dartford and Woolwich to the east.

Noise levels will also increase in Watford, Amersham, Camberley, High Wycombe, Barking, Rainham, Ilford, Leytonstone, Walthamstow, Barnet, Carshalton and Beckenham. People in Hampstead, Highgate, Islington, Hackney, Mile End, Stratford, Harrow, Ruislip and Henley will no longer hear any Heathrow-bound air traffic.

The Government did not make clear in its consultation document on Heathrow expansion, published in November 2007, that so many people would experience a significant change in aircraft noise.

Looks like Boris Johnson, Mayor of London (Objector of the Heathrow 3rd runway, but supporter of London City Airport expansion) is going to be a winner - with Heathrow aircraft being removed from the skies of his residential area - lucky him!

Plane Stupid Close Stansted

FTF are not a direct action group but we are sympathetic to the frustration that Plane Stupid feel. Their actions highlight the sheer frustration that anti expansion campaigners and environmentalists have over the too cosy relationship between aviation and government.

London City Airport has been approved by Newham Council to expand flights by 50% to 120,000 flights per annum over the most densely occupied area of the country. However as Baroness Ludford MEP recently stated: it has almost gone unnoticed by the majority of the media despite strong protests and objections.

Boris Johnson, Mayor Of London and Hazel Blears, Secretary of State also ignored the lack of environmental data, the wider effects on the region such as as 50% increase in noise levels and the areas affected by excessive noise levels, and residents objections.

There is no wonder why campaigners feel forced to take direct action in a country where the government only listens to business and ignores the very residents who make communities. The actions of Plane Stupid today, as HACAN's John Stewart has stated - are a taste of things to come.

Please see press release from our colleagues: Stop Stansted Expansion:

PRESS RELEASE
ISSUED BY STOP STANSTED EXPANSION Monday 8 December

COMMENT ON STANSTED RUNWAY CLOSURE

The closure of Stansted Airport this morning by climate action group Plane Stupid has highlighted significant concerns that the Government is failing to fulfil its commitment to deliver meaningful action on climate change by supporting the expansion of Stansted and other airports across the UK.

Over 50 protesters from Plane Stupid camped out on the runway and surrounded themselves with fortified security fencing, preventing flights to and from the airport during the early part of the morning.

Responding to news of the action Carol Barbone, Campaign Director of Stop Stansted Expansion, said: “No-one can condemn this action without also condemning the recklessness of the Government’s policy on airport expansion and the major contribution which the resulting emissions would make to global warming. BAA’s full frontal attack on the community with its plans to make Stansted bigger than Heathrow today, with a seven square kilometre landgrab for a second runway destroying historic homes and villages, must also be condemned.”

She continued: “Our own campaign has always been waged strictly within the law and we are pledged to continue to use all legal means to overturn the Stansted expansion plans. Nevertheless, today’s action by Plane Stupid must be seen in context against the backdrop of a continuous assault of the local community by BAA and by a Government that claims to want to tackle climate change but seems determined to allow expansion of the airport.”

Fight The Flights At The Houses Of Parliament

FTF were recently invited to speak on the platform at an event in the Houses of Parliament, organised by Friends of The Earth , and hosted by Paul Truswell MP on the proposed new 'Planning Bill'. We were honoured to be asked, and to stand alongside other successful campaigners from the local communities.

It gave us the opportunity to tell MPs our experience of the failings in London City Airports application - which required consistent objections and requests for clarification and further information - all of which happened to be on the bits that the airport wanted to bury as they were negative. To be able to object and technically challenge is crucial - RPS, Bickerdike Allan Partner and LCA all have their own agendas - to make money. Not too much else matters to them - and that is why the communities voice is so important and the current proposed Planning Bill is bad news for communities.

For those of you not familiar with the proposed bill, it would essentially move all MAJOR applications away from local councils and into the hands of an unelected board of individuals.

It will:

1. remove the meaningful right for communities to participate in decisions about where they live
2. not take account of climate change

As we all know the current system is not perfect, it relies upon an efficient and fair council that is objective and not biased or autocratic. Newham Council clearly does not fall into such a description, however communities do at least get a chance to represent their concerns, even if Newham don't listen to them and ignore requirements. Hazel Blears however is even misguided enough to support that developers carry out their own consultations in this new bill - can you imagine the advertisement which masquerades as a consultation, that London City Airport would carry out? Probably the same one they have already carried out with their 'partners' LB Newham. Statements made by Richard Gooding the CEO of LCA such as 'there will be no increase in noise levels' would be even more commonplace than they have been in such a system. But this time it would be endorsed by a ridiculous piece of legislation which is the biggest threat to democracy since post war. Public inquiries would no longer be available communities.

Still that is the way LB Newham seems to like it - either remove funding from groups that don't play their game, or ostracise anyone who dares to object or criticise the council, or its Mayor. They call that totalitarianism don't they?

Hazel Blears wants this new planning bill - she says to speed things up and refers to residents as 'minnows' and the developers as 'sharks' to justify removing the democratic rights of residents to have a say about their communities . She might be right about the business/developer 'sharks' but she is completely out of touch in referring to residents in communities as 'minnows'. She should have realised that when she sees the growing group of aviation anti expansion campaigners and direct action campaigners. Minnows they are not.

The way to speed planning up is to ensure that developers such as London City Airport submit decent, accurate and detailed applications in the first place. They did not, and even on approval they had not. That developers choose to overlook the negative impacts of their plans slows the process down, it is the applicants that Blears should be looking to if she wants to speed up the process.

Blears wants to stop you asking questions but do you trust an unelected board to put you and your community above the requests of the sharks? We say no.