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Councillors Slam Heathrow Consultation Sham
April 8, 2008 1:04 PM
In a week when Heathrow's new Terminal Five was in chaos, Liberal Democrat councillors in Islington slammed the Government for considering building new runways at Heathrow and Stansted, calling the recent consultation on Heathrow expansion a "sham".
At a full meeting of Islington council, Liberal Democrat councillors spoke up about the problems of aircraft noise in their wards, and passed a motion deriding the Government consultation on Heathrow as "a pointless exercise by a Government which had already decided on the issue."
They also raised the complaint that the consultation document was deliberately designed to put people off responding. The Plain English Campaign has noted that it was full of jargon and technical terminology incomprehensible to ordinary people.
Cllr Julia Williams
Cllr Julia Williams, ward councillor for Hillrise, proposed the motion to council, saying:
"We are always hearing complaints about noisy planes, which are particularly annoying first thing in the morning. A new runway at Heathrow would mean even more flights coming across Islington before landing, and even more noise."
Cllr Lucy Watt, Islington's executive member for transport and the environment, commented:
"The Government should be listening to the people of Islington because we are going to be effected by their plans for expanding airports in London.
"There are real concerns that the Government's consultation was a big stitch-up, and they've already decided what they are going to do anyway. The consultation paper didn't have a box that just said no."
Last month Islington joined the 2M Group- an alliance of 12 local authorities that are fighting plans to expand Heathrow Airport.
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