Third Heathrow runway 'very bad' for residents

Residents living near Heathrow Airport have pleaded against plans for a third runway to be built at the UK's biggest airport.

Chancellor Rachel Reeves confirmed on Wednesday that the government backed the plans, claiming a third runway could create 100,000 jobs.

Joanna Wattis, a resident of Datchet, Berkshire, said the community was "very much against it" and pleaded for the plans to be dropped.

But another resident, Bob Beresford, said he thought Heathrow needed to expand to avoid losing traffic to other European airports.

The plans for a third runway received parliamentary approval in June 2018, but have been stuck in limbo after legal challenges ever since.

On Wednesday, Reeves invited Heathrow to submit plans to expand the airport, but promised the government would only sign them off if "in line with legal environmental and climate objectives".

Ms Wattis said she was "very much against" the plans".

"I think it would be a very bad idea for the local community," she said.

"We're all very much against it and we have enough flights [overhead]. If you think of all the fumes that go into the atmosphere... no. Please, no."

Another resident, Pauline Herbommez, said she thought it was the wrong move for environmental reasons.

"I'm actually trying to reduce my own flying time for carbon emissions so I think it's really truly the wrong way to go about it," she said.

"Instead of encouraging flying more we should be looking at railways and developing public transport."

She said she thought the current runways were "enough".

"For the future of our children, for our actual present, we really need to start thinking about it," she said.

"[Expanding the airport] is completely against looking after our future. I think it's silly."

Transport Secretary Heidi Alexander said the government would invest £63m over the next year to support the production of sustainable aviation fuel.

She said that would help "support thousands of jobs, bring down our transport emissions, support our energy security and make the UK a clean energy superpower".

Ms Beresford said he understood the reasoning behind it, although he conceded it was "a mixed blessing".

"We do need to expand Heathrow - we're losing traffic," he said.

"We've got a lot of people who want to come here... but the expansion of Gatwick and places like that are too far away from central London.

"Heathrow is in a good position."

Mark Billany, manager of Hemisphere Freight Service Ltd in Slough, said the extra runway would have financial benefits because it could bring down costs for air freight cargo, which he said had risen since Brexit.

But he was sceptical of whether the runway would actually be built, saying the promise of a third runway had been "made many times before and broken".

"We've been here before", he said.

Slough's Labour MP, Tan Dhesi, also said Heathrow needed to follow in the steps of other European airports.

"Several runways have appeared at Schiphol in Amsterdam," he said.

"Whether it's in Paris or Frankfurt, those airports all recognise that planes will be taking off... air travel is here to stay. We just need to make it better, more efficient, and more environmentally friendly."

Maidenhead's Liberal Democrat MP Joshua Reynolds is one of several MPs who said he would be opposing the plans.

"The environmental costs of a third runway at Heathrow put both our planet and our community at risk," he said.

"My constituents in Maidenhead deserve growth that improves their lives and local area, not growth that will take years to deliver and lead to big increases in pollution and health risks."

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