UPDATED Putney residents concerned about the expansion of Heathrow Airport will have the chance to hear campaigners’ views and put questions to their MP next week, at a public meeting on the government’s expansion plans.
The meeting takes place at Regenerate Rise (The Platt Christian Centre) on on Felsham Road next Monday, 13 July, from 7pm to 8.30pm. That is just ten days before a parliamentary deadline for evidence on those plans.
The meeting follows the release of the government’s planning document for expanding Heathrow, which admits some areas, Putney included, will get less quiet time under the flight paths. In other words, Putney is going to get a lot noisier.
At the meeting, the Putney Society will set out what it wants residents to push for: protection of current respite periods, tighter noise limits if a third runway goes ahead, extended night flight restrictions, and steeper descents to keep planes higher for longer above Putney. Paul Beckford, policy director of the No 3rd Runway Coalition, is also due to speak.
Two deadlines, ten days apart
Residents will have two separate chances to act after the meeting. The House of Commons Transport Committee is running its own inquiry into the draft HENPS, separate from the government’s consultation. It wants written evidence by 12 noon on 23 July, just ten days after the Putney meeting. The committee has said it wants to hear from anyone with views, not only organisations. Two of its questions concern noise, one of the government’s own tests for expansion, and whether the mitigation on offer for affected communities is realistic.
The government’s own consultation on the draft HENPS runs longer, closing at 11:59pm on 1 September. Residents can respond online, by email to henpsconsultation@dft.gov.uk, or by post to the Airports National Policy Statement Review Team, Great Minster House, 33 Horseferry Road, London SW1P 4DR. Submissions to either can draw on the same points.
Stephen Luxford, who convenes the Putney Society’s Transport Panel, will put the Society’s case at the meeting. Its July bulletin describes the document as one that will shape one of the most significant infrastructure decisions facing Putney and the wider area for decades.
What residents can do
Attending likely requires a ticket, available online. Residents can submit a response to the government’s consultation online, by email, or by post using the details above, before 1 September. They can also write directly to the Transport Committee before 23 July.
Anderson can be reached at fleur.anderson.mp@parliament.uk.
The flight paths for an expanded Heathrow have not yet been drawn. Both deadlines fall before that happens. As the Putney Society puts it: “Whatever your view on expansion, this is the moment to engage.”
