MP Invites Residents To Rally Against Heathrow Expansion
Justine Greening will be with Zac Goldsmith, Boris Johnson & local councillors
I wanted to invite you to join me at the rally to oppose any expansion at Heathrow Airport, alongside Zac Goldsmith, MP for Richmond, the Mayor of London, Boris Johnson, and local Council leaders.
As you will know, I have campaigned over many years, with our local community, against the expansion of Heathrow. Aircraft noise and night flights are a real cause for concern for many residents. The Prime Minister recently set up the Davies Commission to recommend how to meet the need for additional airport capacity in the UK, and it will be looking at Heathrow Airport as part of this work. This rally has been organised to demonstrate the strength of feeling many communities share against any expansion at Heathrow Airport.
The rally is at the Barn Elms Playing Fields between 09:30am and 10:30am on Saturday 27th April 2013. I will be there as our local MP and there will also be speeches by Mayor, Boris Johnson, and Zac Goldsmith MP.
This is now a great opportunity for residents to join together and reaffirm their opposition to any expansion at Heathrow. The more people that come along, the stronger the message we'll send.
…..and don’t forget to have your say on the Heathrow Night Flights consultation
The Department for Transport has launched a night flights consultation which looks at the costs of night flights to communities like ours, who suffer from noise disruption. It closes on 22nd April 2013.
Currently on average 16 ‘night’ flights are allowed between 11.30pm and 6am but in practice most start arriving at 4.30am, having flown overnight from Asia. I receive lots of complaints from local residents who are woken up regularly by these really early morning night flights.
I believe we should be working towards an end to night flights arriving before 6am – giving local residents a guaranteed night time respite period. I am also keen to see better noise monitoring and tougher fines on airlines that breach noise limits on arrival.
The more people have their say the better, so it would be great if you could respond as well detailing your experience of night flights and views on what the night flying regime should be. The consultation closes on 22nd April 2013, and you can find out more information online here www.gov.uk/government/consultations/night-flights-consultation. Also please feel free to copy me in to your response so I can reiterate your comments in my own response as MP.
In the meantime, I look forward to seeing you at the Heathrow rally and I will continue to do my best to protect residents’ quality of life from aircraft noise and night flights.
Yours sincerely
Rt Hon Justine Greening MP
April 12, 2013
