Fresh plea to air your views on Heathrow

12.12.11pm GMT Thu 17th Jan 2008

A fresh call has been issued by Richmond Council to local residents to seize the chance to have their say on plans for Heathrow expansion by turning out in great numbers at the Council's public meeting to be held on Friday, January 18.

The meeting will be held at the Duke Street Church, Duke Street, Richmond, starting 8pm. It will be on the same day as an all-day exhibition of the proposals by the Department for Transport at the Richmond Adult College in Parkshot. A second public meeting will be held by the Council at Clarendon Hall, York House, on Tuesday February 12 (7pm)

Council Leader, Cllr Serge Lourie, said: "We are determined to ensure that local residents have every opportunity to make their views known. The lives of people across swathes of London are blighted by aircraft noise, and these proposals will cause further misery for local people with the borough becoming a hub for take-off routes if they are given the go-ahead. We want people to make their voices heard and send a message to the Government very forcibly that this expansion is not inevitable."

Speaking on behalf of the 2M Group of local authorities, fighting to halt airport expansion, Cllr Lourie added: "Many people say they find the Government's consultation document and accompanying questionnaire bewildering. Yet for all the great mass of detail so much vital information is missing. So the 2M Group will fire off a series of questions to the Transport Secretary, Ruth Kelly, seeking further, detailed information about the Government's case for airport expansion. For example, we are asking them how they reconcile their stated aims for achieving emissions reductions with their advocacy of further airport expansion. The two simply do not square."

All 20 questions posed to Ruth Kelly can be viewed on the 2M website at www.2mgroup.org.uk. For further information go to the Richmond Council website on www.richmond.gov.uk/heathrow The Government's consultation on the expansion plans ends on 27 February.