Londoners slam the Government’s decision to approve Heathrow third runway

London citizens protest while Heathrow airport is set to be expanded after 25 years of hesitation and indecision, as the Government gives the green light for the construction of a new runaway that will cost over £17billion.

Heathrow Airport in London @ Pinterest @ Londonist.com

The British Government announced on Tuesday the 25^th of October that it is launching the construction of a third runaway and sixth terminal at the Heathrow Airport in West London. This is one of the most costly plans the new Government has made, in an attempt to strengthen the trade bonds with other countries, after the UK voted to leave the EU. The controversial decision was welcomed by the business community, but was also strongly criticized by members of the Cabinet, environmental organisations and local citizens, who are planning to take legal action to overturn the Government’s plans.

Protests and backlash from the public prevented the implementation of such a decision for Heathrow six years ago, and this time again residents have expressed their concerns about the expansion and the negative effects this could have on the environment and on their local communities.

Eimear O’Rourke, a 22-year-old student from Dublin, took part in a protest in November along with a group of other activists, against the construction of the third runaway. “I do not think people fully understand the negative impact that this runaway will have on our environmental health. The air pollution levels will rise tremendously in the whole of West London. Plus in order to build the runaway, many London boroughs and councils have already started making serious cuts in local services.”

Several campaigns have taken place around the UK with the most recent one being the obstruction of the M4 and A4 roads in London, which caused a temporary blackout and disrupted the traffic.

“Authorities stopped our protests near Heathrow, but will not be silenced and we will continue to fight for our rights and prevent the destruction of our communities and our lives” Mss O’Rourke added.

A third runway is likely to affect thousands of people in areas such as Surrey, Berkshire and West London because of loud flight path noise.

Abbey Hewitt, 41, of Staunton Road in Slough claims that she has already complained numerous times to her local authorities and to Heathrow airport for the noise coming from airplanes taking off and landing.

“The noise coming from airplanes is so disturbing and you can hear it literally every five minutes. I constantly have a headache and my children who are still at school struggle to study and concentrate. I cannot imagine adding to that another runaway with hundreds more airplanes. This would also mean that we would have to move house. We have been leaving in the area for more than 15 years and I do not want to move away from my neighbourhood and lose all my friends” said Ms Hewitt.

Critics of the construction idea also include the current Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, Boris Johnson, whose constituency is close to Heathrow, as well as the Mayor of London Sadiq Khan, who announced that he will be “involved in any legal process” to continue challenging the Government’s decision.

The expansion of Heathrow, which is the busiest airport in Europe, is one of the largest construction projects in the continent and it will have to win the final vote of the Parliament in about a year from now, which technically means that the new runaway will not be operational before 2025.

According to a three-year study by Britain’s Airport Commission, a new take off – landing runway at Heathrow could create over 77,000 new jobs by 2050 and lead to an increase in GDP between 0.65% to 0.75% during that same period.

Varsha Muckatira, 20, a business trainee from Station Road in Uxbridge, believes that a third runway is very much needed in Heathrow: “I fly regularly from and towards Heathrow and the air traffic around the airport is terrible. The airplanes usually fly in circles above the airport until a runway is clear for landing. Once the landing of the airplane I was in, was delayed for 45 minutes. A new runway will allow the passage of thousands additional aircrafts annually and will also mean long term prospects for employment.”

The Government considered in the past the possibility of expanding Gatwick airport, but this scenario was discarded after the Department for Transport suggested that the construction of a runway in Heathrow will boost the British economy and will ensure the creation of new jobs and new business opportunities. According to preliminary estimates, the new runway is expected to bring economic benefits of £61billion.

The decision is to be approved by the British Parliament in a final vote that will take place in 2017.

Council’s plans for new schools in Hillingdon met with backlash from Labour party members

Conservatives’ decision to build and expand primary and secondary schools in Hillingdon has been met with resistance from the Labour Party who demand protection for green belt areas.

The Hillingdon Council Budget Meeting, on the 25^th of February 2016  

© Pauline Karavasili

Schools in Hillingdon are to receive a boost of £47million to meet the rising demands for student places, the Hillingdon Council has announced. Councillor Jonathan Bianco, Cabinet Member for Finance, Property and Business Services, stated during the budget meeting that the Council’s future plan to invest in education “is the largest school building project in London and it is our commitment to provide every child with a proper place in a modern, well-equipped school.”

Councillor Michael White (CON, Cavendish) also told the budget meeting that “all Councils are struggling to cope with such an influx of students at the moment and in some boroughs, school halls are being used as temporary classrooms.”

Cllr Jonathan Bianco announcing the Conservative

plans at the Budget Meeting

© Pauline Karavasili

The school building project comes after claims from the Local Government Association that in recent years primary schools have been struggling to keep up with growing demands for school places. By 2024 Councils in England will have to cater for nearly 3.3m more secondary school places, an increase of 20% on now.

Rhona Johnston, Head Teacher at Queensmead School in South Ruislip, declared that “these investments are necessary. There are more children in primary education currently in Hillingdon than there are places available in secondary schools.  Without the investment there will not be enough school places for 11 year olds starting next academic year.”

The Council’s decision to build new schools and expand old ones has prompted an angry Labour reaction, who emphasised on the importance of protecting and maintaining green belt areas. Previous school building projects have been controversial among Hillingdon residents, who last year organised a protest against the building of a school in Lake Farm Country Park.

Councillor John Oswell, Deputy Leader of the Labour Group explained that “the Conservatives do not realise that any new build should be on suitable spare land and not on green belt. They recently built a new school on a much loved green belt site when there were much better options open to them.”

Councillor Tony Burles (LAB, Uxbridge South) also accused the conservative party for not having sustainable plans: “the local Conservatives are very arrogant and think that they know best without putting the needs of local people first. Their plans might sound grand, but it’s all an illusion. I call it smoke and mirrors but nothing behind it.”

“I fear that the Council has concentrated on building schools and taken its eye off the quality of the education” added Mr Burles.

 

The Conservative-led Council has invested heavily in primary education, spending over £150million on building new schools over the past five years. There are currently plans for five more infant schools in the Hillingdon Borough and Eastcote to be expanded, in order to fulfil the growing demand for new pupils.

 

On a more helpful note, Councillor Jas Dhot (LAB, Barnhill) invited both parties during the budget meeting to work together: “Labour and Conservatives are politically different, but when it comes to the betterment of our community or country, we should support each other. In Hillingdon we definitely need more schools to ensure that every child does not need to travel far for education, and together we will make this possible.”

The Council’s budget plan for schools in Hillingdon for 2016/17 – 2020/21

Councils are planning to raise taxes and cut local services after Government's spending squeeze

2016 could be a challening year for many local residents across the country, after English councils announced a possible rise of the council tax bills and cuts in several local services.

The budget meeting for the local councils will take place later in February, but many councillors are already warning that funding reductions from the Central Government will result to multi-million pound deficits for local communities.

Changes include a possible rise of council tax up to 3.99%, which is the maximum level permitted, as well as a rise of the adult social care insurance payment (premium), which means that council bills could go up by £47 a year for most Band D properties (the rating scale of the energy efficiency of a house – D is an average grade).

In addition, the reduction of the support grant from the Government to the councils might cause “deeper” cuts to a number of local services, including children's centres, short breaks for disabled children, bus subsidies, funding for theatres, museums, community gyms and projects encouraging people to stop smoking and preventing domestic violence. Also, charges for garden waste collections and bereavement services are set to rise in some areas.

It has also been revealed that over 25,000 jobs are under threat because of the cuts to services, while 15 district councils will see their central government grant withdrawn next year and 168 local authorities will have lost their full support grant by 2019/2020.

However, the Department for Communities and Local Government believes that council tax bills will be less at the end of David Cameron’s government, as now councils “will have almost £200 billion to spend on local services and they can plan their funding settlement with more certainty”.