Seven London councils have formally united against Heathrow Airport's third runway plans, in a letter sent to Transport Secretary Heidi Alexander after the government's consultation on its draft expansion blueprint closed on Tuesday 1 September.
Leaders of Wandsworth, Richmond, Kingston, Hillingdon, Southwark, Sutton and Windsor and Maidenhead councils told the government that a third runway is "neither necessary or acceptable when the consequences for Londoners and neighbouring communities remain so profound and unresolved", according to My London, which obtained and reported the letter on 2 September.
The letter responds to the government's draft Heathrow Expansion National Policy Statement (HENPS), the framework that will guide future planning decisions on expansion. Its public consultation closed at 11.59pm on 1 September. The councils are calling on ministers to withdraw support for a third runway, citing noise, pollution and congestion for residents. Heathrow Airport Limited is separately preparing a full application for a new 3,500-metre northwest runway, a project that would require moving a section of the M25. A decision on that application, once submitted, is expected within the next few years.
Separately on 2 September, the Chartered Institute of Logistics and Transport in the UK (Cilt UK) published its own response to the same HENPS consultation, reported by Travel Weekly. The body said Heathrow expansion "cannot be considered in isolation" and called for a "clear, co-ordinated" national airports strategy rather than a decision focused on Heathrow alone. Cilt