Heathrow launches fight-back campaign after poll shows local support for expansion
Heathrow claims a new poll shows more local residents support the airport than oppose it and almost half of those questioned favour its expansion.
The poll of 6,000 residents in Hounslow, Richmond, Hillingdon, Windsor and Spelthorne, found:
- 60% of residents feel positive towards Heathrow compared to 6% who feel negatively
- 66% say that the benefits of Heathrow outweigh the disadvantages for their community
- 46% support expanding Heathrow, compared to 43% who oppose expansion
Heathrow is the 12th most important issue in determining which candidate to vote for at the next general election, with jobs and the economy the most important issue, it said.
The area with the most aircraft noise, Feltham and Heston, is the area which is most supportive of the airport expanding, according to the poll carried out by Populus. 51% of people in Feltham and Heston support expanding Heathrow compared to 39% who are opposed.
Heathrow director of corporate affairs Clare Harbord said: "This research shows that most local residents back Heathrow. Anti-Heathrow campaigners claim that everyone living near Heathrow is opposed to the airport, but that simply isn’t true.
"The recent report by MPs on Parliament’s Transport Committee lays bare what the Mayor’s plans for a new airport would do to this region: it says an estuary hub airport would require the closure of Heathrow – a course of action that would have unacceptable consequences for individuals, businesses in the vicinity of the existing airport and the local economy."
The airport claims 114,000 jobs in the area depend on Heathrow, representing one in five local jobs in the five boroughs closest to Heathrow.
It added: "If Heathrow closed then people directly employed at the airport would have to be re-located or would be made redundant.
"It would be Britain’s worst ever mass redundancy with job losses greater than when MG Rover closed its factory at Longbridge in 2005 (6,500 jobs), or during the worst year of UK pit closures in 1984 (30,000 jobs).
Heathrow announced today that it will provide seed funding for a new community campaign "to provide a voice for the thousands of local people who support Heathrow".
Plans for the campaign are in their early stages but it said it will seek to establish itself and start identifying and recruiting support before the end of the year.
Linsey McNeill
Editor Linsey McNeill has been writing about travel for more than three decades. Bylines include The Times, Telegraph, Observer, Guardian and Which? plus the South China Morning Post. She also shares insider tips on thetraveljournalist.co.uk
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