National newspaper reveals plans flout safety guidelines by placing a proposed crash-landing zone on top of a motorway junction
The London Borough of Hounslow has renewed calls for the Government to abandon the proposed expansion of Heathrow airport after a national newspaper revealed that the plans flout safety guidelines by placing a proposed crash-landing zone on top of a motorway junction.
The mis-siting emerged in an investigation by The Sunday Times, which found that the airport operator BAA has decided that the risk of a plane crashing into the six-lane motorway does not merit relocating the M25/M4 junction.
Cllr Barbara Reid, the council's lead member for aviation said: "These new findings are very worrying. We are fortunate that Heathrow has had a good safety record in the past, but a growing number of people are voicing their concerns about safety.
"These latest findings will do nothing to allay those fears and are just one more reason for the Government to stop flying in the face of common sense and abandon its plans to expand Heathrow airport."
Research by the council, released in January this year, found that around 90 per cent of people living near Heathrow believe that expansion will pose an increased risk to safety. The publication of these findings coincided with an incident at Heathrow when a British Airways jet crashed after its engines failed during its descent.
Campaigners also point out that the airport already has the worst congested airspace in the EU, crossing one of the most densely populated areas in Europe.
According to the Sunday Times report, the government is likely to be challenged in the courts if it approves plans for the development this summer. Its own guidelines state that the number of people in "public safety zones" around airports should be kept to a minimum.
They say: "The basic policy objective . . . is that there should be no increase in the number of people living, working or congregating in public safety zones." This should apply because of the extra traffic generated by the enlarged airport.
The Department for Transport (DfT) has been advised to create ways of avoiding traffic jams on the junction to reduce the risk of fatalities in a hypothetical plane crash. Most crashes occur during landing or take-off.
The Sunday Times investigation also revealed that figures for carbon emissions and the impact on air quality have been downplayed.
The Transport Secretary, Ruth Kelly, is expected to announce whether or not the Government will push ahead with its expansion plans before the summer.
In the meantime, the Stop Heathrow Expansion campaign, which is backed by a wide variety of groups including the council, is inviting local people to say "no" to airport expansion at a major public rally next month (Saturday 31 May 2008).
It is hoped that thousands of people from West London and beyond will converge on the village of Sipson, the site of the proposed third runway, and take part in the formation of a giant human "NO".
The event, dubbed Make A NOise (sic), is being seen by campaigners as an opportunity to the keep up the pressure on the Government to abandon its plans to expand Heathrow airport.
