Huge impact of third runway

THE latest details of Heathrow’s “Expansion Masterplan” are truly staggering.

Three decades of demolition and reconstruction that will have devastating effects on people’s lives and livelihood within a huge radius of Heathrow and beyond.

The destruction of at least 750 homes along with the re-direction of the busiest section of the M25, simply to create an airport that will be out of date, long before it is completed as well as subjecting an enormous amount of people to increased air and noise pollution for the future.

The optimistic forecast for runway operation is in seven years time.

By comparison, this is how long it took to build Hong Kong International Airport, along with land reclamation and modern road and rail services to Hong Kong and Kowloon. It is also one of the world’s most environmentally friendly airports.

Surely, in the short term it would make far greater sense to build a second runway at Gatwick, along with a fast and frequent rail connection to Heathrow, which would effectively create two airport hubs.

For the longer term we should be looking at constructing a brand new, state-of-the-art airport at an east coast location, that would hugely reduce flights over London and densely populated areas and along with new railway links to both the capital and London’s airports, would reduce needless road journeys.

The Government needs to drastically re-think this ill thought out, short term decision and start looking at a better, cleaner and longer term solution for the future of our aviation and transport infrastructure. John Walton via email

IMAGE HEATHROW LTD Computer-generated image of how Heathrow could look after expansion