The Leaders of Spelthorne Borough Council and Slough Borough Council have sent the following letter to The Times newspaper to express their support for a third runway at Heathrow:
Dear Sir,
Further to the article "Tory councils prepare to sue over Heathrow runway" (3 March 2016), we are writing to you as Leaders of Councils neighbouring the airport that support a third runway.
After three years of expert analysis and at cost of £20m to the taxpayer, the independent Airports Commission made a unanimous and unequivocal recommendation to the Government that Heathrow should be expanded. The Commission looked closely at local environmental impacts and concluded that these could be adequately mitigated.
Following several years of consultation and engagement with local people and Local Authorities, the plans that Heathrow are proposing are radically different to those rejected by the Prime Minister in 2010. The Prime Minister's comments rejecting the original plans at that time are irrelevant to the current proposals.
We are the Leaders of Councils representing tens of thousands of residents who live next to Heathrow, many of whom, as in other surrounding Boroughs, are reliant on the proximity to the airport for work. We will continue to encourage the airport to do more to reduce its impacts but we support the skills, employment and community benefits that Heathrow expansion would bring to our Boroughs.
Yours
Councillor Ian Harvey, Leader, Spelthorne Borough Council
Councillor Rob Anderson, Leader, Slough Borough Council
