Putting spending into perspective

IN response to the three pro third runway letters published in the Uxbridge Gazette (11.01.17) I feel the letters published recently about the council’s spending on legal action against a third runway need to be put into perspective.

For one, the council must represent all of its residents and those of us in the south of the borough who suffer far more due to our ‘neighbour’ Heathrow airport are grateful for the council support.

The £204,219 spent in the last 20 months would equate to £2.55 per month per household if it was just divided by the 4,000 homes in the Heathrow villages that face demolition or rendering uninhabitable.

If divided by all the homes in Hillingdon the amount would be less than a penny. Considering the south of the borough has been neglected of service investment due to years of blight it’s a small price to pay.

We are often told to accept our fate in the villages as it is ‘progress’.

Heathrow announced at a staff event last week that 2.4million seats left Heathrow unsold in 2016, if an average aircraft held 300 passengers that’s 8,000 flights a year.

If airlines organised their schedules more efficiently they could sell back the slots they do not need and Heathrow could open up slots to the emerging countries that require routes, producing the new jobs mentioned without the need for a new runway and destruction of homes and communities. Now that would be progress! J CLARK Sipson Resident