Maire Lowe reports on the debate held in Acton

Over 40 people turned out  on a cold night to hear the arguments for and against the expansion of Heathrow.

Speaking for expansion Tony Cacciavone, Programme Director of the Heathrow Expansion Programme brought the measured approach we expect of a civil engineer. His presentation told us that there would be up to 40,000 extra jobs up and up to 1000 Apprenticeships, He spoke of industry standards of cheap travel and concessions for staff, and the measures planned for reducing noise and pollution from aircraft and associated freight traffic.  He promised that even with the increased traffic, aircraft noise would not be more that it is today.  His description of the tunnel under the M25 to accomodate increased traffic was fascinating even to the non spacially gifted writer.

Speaking against expansion John Russell  of HACAN spoke from the heart and without notes. He doubted the expansion of Heathrow would provide as many jobs as promised and urged all Acton residents to spend a day in Putney or in Kew gardens listening to the planes in the sky above and asking ourselves if such noise would upset us personally if we too lived under a flightpath.  He queried the cost of expansion and pointed out that  BA currently were against the third runway. Most tellingly for me, he raised the point that if taxes are ever placed on aviation fuel, the demand for flights will decrease and there will be more than enough room for all..

Organised by the Churchfield Community Assocation and chaired by Chris Hurley, questions from the floor focused mostly on the likely levels pollution and noise we might expect in Acton. The point was made that pollution will come from the increased numbers of diesel fuelled lorries rolling to and from the airport, not just the planes themselves. Continued investment in quieter aircraft would suggest that noise will gradually cease to be a major problem, solutions to increased pollution seem a little more difficult to understand.

 Both speakers asked us to think of London as a brand that draws trade and visitors from all over the world and benefits the whole of the UK.. Tony believes that we need Heathrow to expand to mantain our position in the world. John believes that London is such a powerful magnet that people and business will come anyway, even if they have to disembark elsewhere.

Rupa Huq MP joined the debate, bringing copies of her speech against expansion made recently in the House. She said that Ealing Council has yet to decide on a position but that from her home in South Ealing, she can hear the noise of aircraft clearly and doesn't like it.

A show of hands at the end gave victory to the anti expansionists ...but barely.

The Government is expected to make a decision in June.

What do you think? 

Maire Lowe

January 29th 2016