8:31am Wednesday 24th September 2008
By Charlotte Gray
Protests over a proposed third runway at Heathrow Airport have got off to a flying start in the borough.
At a meeting in Palmers Green last Monday, Haringey and Enfield residents were joined by anti-Heathrow expansion group Heathrow Association for the Control of Aircraft Noise (HACAN) and politicians, to express their outrage at plans to expand the airport.
Organiser David Hughes, from Palmers Green, lives under the Heathrow flightpath. He said: “This is really something that should go on the agenda. It’s got huge consequences for London.”
HACAN chairman, John Stewart, explained how planes had been stacking, or queuing, over Haringey and Enfield.
He said: “What’s happened over the past ten or 15 years, is that there have been so many planes they have been stacking them over north and south London, holding them over this part of the world.
“Some of you could be getting both landing and take-off noise. I think that begins to explain why there’s more concern here in north London.”
Residents complained about the noise of early-morning and late-night planes.
Sally Burch, from Muswell Hill Friends of the Earth, lives in Fortis Green and says she is woken up every night by low-flying planes.
She said: “We get aircraft noise because the planes come over at night.
“Because Muswell Hill is very high and planes are at that height, the noise is quite loud.
“It’s quite a nuisance as it does wake us up. I’m going to continue campaigning and writing letters.”
Joanne McCartney, London Assembly member for Enfield and Haringey, spoke at the meeting, in Burford Gardens, to condemn plans to build a third runway.
She said she would fight to protect residents from the development.
She explained: “I have noticed an increasing number of planes flying over here at all times. All of you need to make your views clearly heard.”
A spokesman for National Air Traffic control said: “There is nothing that has particularly changed over that area. It may be people are experiencing the extra levels of traffic happening over the summer.”
An announcement on whether the expansion can go ahead will be made later this year by the transport secretary.
BAA, which owns Heathrow Airport, claims it is already running at 99 per cent capacity, with two runways, and needs a third to remain globally competitive.
There were calls for the borough’s councils to join the 2m Group, an alliance of local authories concerned about Heathrow expansion, but so far they have declined to do so.
Councillor Brian Haley, cabinet member for environment and conservation, said: “Our main concern about the airport expansion is how they are going to manage the CO2 emissions.
“Clearly our concentration is on the environment within our own borough, particularly through our new greenest borough strategy.
“This has a strong focus on how we can tackle climate change within Haringey over the coming years.”
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