HEATHROW AIRPORT expansion has been given go ahead - 3rd runway etc

[RTKangaMummy]

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I think the Gatwick option would have been better if the train infrastructure had also been improved.

Is LHR on the new Crossrail line? Or close to it?

I live closer to LHR than any other airport but prefer flying from Southampton. It's easy to get to (has a railway station on the main network) being just off the M27 and M3 and is pleasant to use. LHR is just too big. And T5 is a posh shopping mall with an airport attached. We were last there in August and there was only one place to get a coffee!

There is a country park next to Heathrow which will disappear under the runway :( and I think BA's HQ will also disappear, ironically.

However, like Brexit, maybe if we wish hard enough it won't happen.

Magicpaintbrush its called a compulsory purchase order. They are never great for the recipient but they've been around for a very long time. Without them, you'd never get a motorway built or a road widened.

Wishing is not enough.

Write to your MP.
Write to your council.
Write to the Transport Secretary.

*Heathrow also has no real train connection to anywhere other than into London. "

Reading, Swindon,Bath, Bristol, Cardiff,Swansea,Exeter

sussexman - what were the people of Sussex hoping the decision would be? LGW or LHR?

sussex When you land at bham airport you can easily get to the Bham Intl rail station and get on trains going to London, Manchester, Liverpool, Holyhead, Glasgow and Edinburgh. It is a wonderfully planned piece of infrastructure.

Manchester airport has a train station that links to Manchester. The issue with Manchester is that the trains going west from Manchester are horrible. The train to Chester, Crewe or Liverpool takes forever. It boggles my mind that the train from Chester to Manchester stops at a gazillion stations, taking over an hour to get to Manchester. Driving takes 35mins.

OTOH, Heathrow is a nightmare. You can only take the train to Paddington Station or the Piccadilly line both of which only go into London. If I want to take the train to Crewe I have to take the train to paddington or the tube and switch to get to Euston. This is why none of the london airports are that great as hub airports. The only places you can easily access via public transportation are london and the south west corridor. To reach the rest of the country is a nightmare, especially with children or if trying to make a 9am meeting on a Monday morning.

sussexman not sure about the others, but there isn't a train connection to Reading, it's a bus (cleverly called RailAir, you know, to make it obvious it's a bus :-D

mariaalexander
Spamming all the threads.!

All these connections are via London or maybe busses.

the only one with any vision is Boris.

heathrow was built as an airstrip for the war

how it has been allowed to become a major international airport is beyond me.

build a new airport south of birmingham - have fast rail links to london, birmingham, manchester.
it takes fricking ages to get to central london from heathrow. even heathrow express goes to paddington. that is way out to the west of all the action of london.

3rd runway will never be built imo.

can anyone answer this question?

whenever i come in on a long haul flight to heathrow, more than half the flight go straight down into the flight connection centre for another flight. they don't leave the airport. they aren't visiting London. how does this help the UK economy beyond landing fees?! heathrow is already the most expensive airport in the world for airlines. It doesn't make sense to me.

And you you won't get an answer to that Camping.

It pains me to say it, but Boris was right.

more than half the flight go straight down into the flight connection centre for another flight. they don't leave the airport. they aren't visiting London. how does this help the UK economy beyond landing fees

But some of them will be getting connecting flights to other parts of the UK, like Scotland and N. Ireland. Also that means half the flight do go out of the airport and contribute to the economy! Plus how many more people will have jobs because of a third runway? And won't more destinations mean more places than can bring more business into the UK.

37% of passengers arriving into Heathrow are there for connecting flights.Airport Watch. That is a lot higher than I thought. I live near Heathrow and will be hugely affected by the expansion but so will lots of affluent surrounding areas, including Windsor. Out of the surrounding areas Uxbridge is the least affected area but has, in my opinion, the better chance of influence a turnaround decision.

Another thing that I found interesting is that Heathrow moves an awful lot of cargo/freight through its hub, 1.50 million metric tonnes in 2014 alone. Does this really need to arrive in Heathrow as opposed to another airport?

If Heathrow want to make more room for passengers then they can let another airport have the connecting passengers (Gatwick, Birmingham, Liverpool) and the cargo/ freight. Problem solved and no further need for 3rd runaway.

EXACTLY CateGory8
but it is so obvious it can't be the answer/reason.

Quornflakes i don't believe many of those passengers are transferring domestically. eg if you want to fly from Seattle to South Africa or anywhere in the Middle East, you transfer at LHR. I get the SEA-LHR flight frequently, i estimate only about 10% of the passengers actually leave the airport.

We need a big new hub airport in the midlands with fast transport links to our major cities. i mean properly fast without stopping. While we're at it move all Government offices to York or similar. De-Londonise this country. London is drowning whilst out of London is sinking.

Plus how many more people will have jobs because of a third runway?
we really don't need more jobs in this part of the country. they are needed elsewhere.

And won't more destinations mean more places than can bring more business into the UK. really? are we short of destinations? is that the issue? if so first step should be to move all the holiday flights out of Heathrow. Growing up we always used to fly from Gatwick or Luton. These days we always get flights from Heathrow - nearer and really not more expensive, that didn't used to be the case.

The jobs that will be needed will be builders at first, we are bussing builders in from Eastern Europe now, so they will have to be brought in from somewhere for the Third Runway, so no advantage for the locals.

Also, even later, most jobs are low paid cleaning, catering, baggage handling, again, not the type of jobs needed locally.

West London is overheating, move Heathrow out in the Estuary and use the site for housing, won't that be better?

Plus how many more people will have jobs because of a third runway?
And where are these people going to live? Cheap housing just isn't available in and around Heathrow. Plus, with the 800 homes being demolished, those people are going to have to live somewhere.

I guess I can always relocate somewhere else and make a killing by renting my house out. If everyone else starts thinking alone those lines then we will create a high rent bubble.

Chardonnay and Cate you are both on the money. I am staggered at how many others are so willing to be spoonfed the propaganda that'd has been dished out by Heathrow and the other vested interests.

Interesting. The BBC news story seems to suggest that most people in the area would welcome a 3rd runway, which I thought was a bit crazy given the 30 years of opposition the project has had. Propaganda there much?

The BBC news story seems to suggest that most people in the area would welcome a 3rd runway

I think that's news to most of them. Fuck knows how they came to that. BAA briefing, most likely.

No one apart from BA wants a 3rd runway at Heathrow. Residents don't want it for obvious reasons. Passengers don't want it because we want to fly direct whenever possible, even if that means paying a bit more.

I totally agree that cargo should not be going out of Heathrow. Absolutely no reason why cargo can't go out of airports like Gatwick, Luton, Liverpool, Cardiff, Leeds, Glasgow and Bute. That would create a stronger, more sustainable infrastructure and really show that we, the UK, are open for business.

As for airports, I detest Heathrow shopping.All this walking through the duty free shop drives me nuts, especially when I am with DS who is autistic. After walking through I have to do my best to calm him down before we get on an 8hr flight. Such fun.

It's BAA I think, Want2Be.

The big airlines are afraid landing fees at Heathrow will rise to cover the cost of the Third Runway and are only happy to support it if the fees are capped.

Now, if the fees are capped, the who will pay for the whole thing? The taxpayer who is already picking up the cost for the transport link improvement works.

The BBC news story seems to suggest that most people in the area would welcome a 3rd runway,
there's a local pro-Heathrow campaign group. If you contact them for any reason, or reply to their deeply leading questionnaire you are recorded as one of their supporters. Zac Goldsmith & local campaign groups have done their best to expose them but they seem to be government and BAA backed so