Surbiton residents may have to deal with roaring aircraft flying overhead for the first time if Heathrow expands to a third and fourth runway.
Richmond residents already have to deal with noise from planes but new flight path plans show that for the first time Kingston could be blighted. New maps released by the 2M Group of councils which includes Kingston, Richmond, Wandsworth and Hounslow show possible routes could also affect Cobham, Esher and Weybridge.
| Attachment | Size |
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| The 2M Group: A report on the proposed expansion of Heathrow Airport (PDF) | 1.94 MB |
Comments
I'd be against expansion of Heathrow purely because it is such a difficult airport to get to and the cost of putting the necessary infrastructure in place would be astronomical.
From Surbiton and Kingston, it is far easier to get to Gatwick than Heathrow at most times of day, and on public transport even City airport is more accessible.
I am not opposed to air noise in general, but it certainly seems a bit unfair that areas like ours that do not really benefit from having the airport nearby should suffer too much.
If they were to make Heathrow more accessible from this and other parts of London and the South East, then I'd change my mind.
I agree in part that getting to LHR is a nightmare but I am for at least one if not two new runways with Northolt being developed for exec and helicopter traffic and linked to LHR by monorail.
Turning to LGW,this also must be expanded after 2020 with at least one runway,much of the land is already owned by the old BAA for this expansion,again exec and helicopter traffic should be directed to an improved Redhill aerodrome.
An airport in the estuary is totally impractical but expansion in the west and south would bring much needed highly paid jobs to the whole of our region.
Aircraft noise is now minimal at 3000 feet or above with quiet, mostly twin jets,being operated,London is the greatest city in the world by almost every possible measure,it is also our capital and must be allowed to generate the income that the whole country increasingly depends on.
Don't get me wrong, I am definitely in favour of airport expansion for London, but I object to Heathrow's current 'Build on Strength' advertising campaign as I think there is very little strength to build on.
Surely the strength of an airport comes in it's accessibility to it's customers? Heathrow's links with the Piccadilly Line and Heathrow Express are totally unacceptable for the airport at it's current size, let alone after expansion.
Before building anything more on that site, they need to ensure far better links to central London and the City, but also introduce some links for areas like ours. It can already take an hour to get from Surbiton to Heathrow by cab if you go at the wrong time, so just imagine what it would be like if the airport was twice the size.
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