Heathrow Expansion

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Discussion

Halb

Original Poster:

53,012 posts

183 months

Wednesday 13th May 2015
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Zach Goldsmith just said he will trigger a by-election if the expansion goes ahead.

jogon

2,971 posts

158 months

Wednesday 13th May 2015
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Good on him. I asked my local MP, Jane Ellison Con, and never got a response as even in Battersea the noise is dreadful from 4.30am till 11pm with the two runways.

Cyder

7,047 posts

220 months

Wednesday 13th May 2015
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I do wish they'd just crack on and expand the place, it's bloody tedious sitting in the queue to take off or doing laps of Watford waiting for a slot to land.

kev1974

4,029 posts

129 months

Wednesday 13th May 2015
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jogon said:
Good on him. I asked my local MP, Jane Ellison Con, and never got a response as even in Battersea the noise is dreadful from 4.30am till 11pm with the two runways.
meh I live directly inbetween the two inbound flightpaths over Barnes, first few days of moving there I was horrified at the noise and wondering what I had done in moving there, but a month later I didn't notice it at all, and I still don't. I can look up and see the planes and they might as well be completely silent, my brain has just completely tuned them out.

Murph7355

37,684 posts

256 months

Wednesday 13th May 2015
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jogon said:
Good on him. I asked my local MP, Jane Ellison Con, and never got a response as even in Battersea the noise is dreadful from 4.30am till 11pm with the two runways.
Presumably you've lived there since the 40s? smile

Personally I'm more than happy for them to build 10 runways there - I cashed in and moved to the countryside 4yrs ago when it became obvious the traffic (of all types) was only going one way.

I'm not really convinced a single hub airport is that essential for the country and think having expansion at various airports nationwide would be better. But if it has to be around London, bring on Heathrow smile

Blib

43,987 posts

197 months

Wednesday 13th May 2015
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He's our MP. I'm presently sitting in the garden in East Sheen, watching the planes fly over. I love planes and so, they don't usually bother me. They will switch runways at 3pm and so, it will be quieter overhead for the rest of the day.

However, late night and very early - 5am - flights are a real pain. Especially during the summer months.

HoHoHo

14,987 posts

250 months

Wednesday 13th May 2015
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kev1974 said:
jogon said:
Good on him. I asked my local MP, Jane Ellison Con, and never got a response as even in Battersea the noise is dreadful from 4.30am till 11pm with the two runways.
meh I live directly inbetween the two inbound flightpaths over Barnes, first few days of moving there I was horrified at the noise and wondering what I had done in moving there, but a month later I didn't notice it at all, and I still don't. I can look up and see the planes and they might as well be completely silent, my brain has just completely tuned them out.
That's exactly the truth the opposition don't want to publicise.

We need to grow to compete in the world and if you don't like airplane noise why on earth move near an airport!

Derek Smith

45,613 posts

248 months

Wednesday 13th May 2015
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HoHoHo said:
That's exactly the truth the opposition don't want to publicise.

We need to grow to compete in the world and if you don't like airplane noise why on earth move near an airport!
I used to work at Gatwick. Even that close, the noise was easy enough to filter out. Despite being no plane spotter, an 'unusual' noise would get me, and lots of others, to look up.

I looked out of my office window one time and saw a dozen or so walkers look up. I knew something different was happening. I went to the roof just in time to see a private jet touch down. So it's not only us.


HoHoHo

14,987 posts

250 months

Wednesday 13th May 2015
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Derek Smith said:
HoHoHo said:
That's exactly the truth the opposition don't want to publicise.

We need to grow to compete in the world and if you don't like airplane noise why on earth move near an airport!
I used to work at Gatwick. Even that close, the noise was easy enough to filter out. Despite being no plane spotter, an 'unusual' noise would get me, and lots of others, to look up.

I looked out of my office window one time and saw a dozen or so walkers look up. I knew something different was happening. I went to the roof just in time to see a private jet touch down. So it's not only us.
I live near ,Garlick and aircraft fly over at all times of the day into early am and it's no big deal.

What is a big deal is losing the economic importance of the SE UK (which of course be fits the rest of the UK!)

truck71

2,328 posts

172 months

Wednesday 13th May 2015
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I think one of the big challenges about expanding Heathrow is the impact on air quality vs the UK targets which are currently being missed in London- it would simply exarcebate the problem.

Heathrow and London city are the only two proper London airports (the others being labelled "London" are fanciful at best) so it's clear why there's a desire to grow the former since the latter can't be.

I'd bet on a Heathrow expansion, not to the North as originally planned but to the South West. This would drag the pollution away from the current hot spots and deliver the increased capacity required.

From a personal perspective I'd rather it didn't expand, living a mile North of the West bound flight path, which is currently unobtrusive. In reality however the timescales involved would mean I'll be long out to pasture in the countryside before plane spotting becomes a dining table hobby.

esuuv

1,319 posts

205 months

Wednesday 13th May 2015
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I have to say i think this is all a little bit NIMBY - i live in Richmond, they fly right over and I just totally tune it out, i barely notice the planes - they swap it out / mix it up - even in the summer when the windows are open at night I don't notice them.

Also handy having one of the worlds best connected airports on the doorstep for work.


Welshbeef

49,633 posts

198 months

Wednesday 13th May 2015
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The airport SHOULD be just off the M40 either side of Oxford (would prefer it being the south side). Plenty of space easy access up north down to Town Wales or the south Coast.


Living in Reading we see planes all the time coming over - some relatively low considering the 45miles away from Heathrow.
We used to have Concorde 10:30am every day which was very loud and every day I and most I've ever spoken to about it enjoyed it/didn't bother them/they all miss it now.

We hear more planes flying over going to air shows old WW2 or pre they are loud (not that often) but a joy to see.



Only once seen military jets flying fast - while N Wales they were all the time

Regiment

2,799 posts

159 months

Wednesday 13th May 2015
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They need to hurry up and expand Heathrow, all this nonsense needs to end and if houses need bulldozing, give them a fair price + a little sweetner. The country has to come first above some nimby and his prize winning roses.

Johnnytheboy

24,498 posts

186 months

Wednesday 13th May 2015
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They'll choose Gatwick over Heathrow - I bet.

Derek Smith

45,613 posts

248 months

Wednesday 13th May 2015
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I had one of my sergeants moaning about the noise of Gatwick. He had joined an organisation to fight it.

I got fed up and in a snub to office unity I mentioned the money it brought into Sussex and the fact that many people worked directly or indirectly for it. His wife, I knew, had a job in a catering supply company. I then told him that if he didn't want to live on a flight path he should move 30 miles or so away. That, of course, would have meant that his wife would spend and extra two hours a day going to and from work.

He just said that he liked the area and didn't want to move, but at least it shut him up about the noise.

I had a friend who lived in Crowborough and the chap's wife phoned me at work to tell me that a piece of metal had fallen from the sky and embedded itself in the shed roof. That would put me off living on the flight path. The chap who went to pick it up said that such bits that 'regularly' fall off are designed to topple.

For the nerds: it was a undercarriage hatch door from a 767.

rs1952

5,247 posts

259 months

Wednesday 13th May 2015
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kev1974 said:
jogon said:
Good on him. I asked my local MP, Jane Ellison Con, and never got a response as even in Battersea the noise is dreadful from 4.30am till 11pm with the two runways.
meh I live directly inbetween the two inbound flightpaths over Barnes, first few days of moving there I was horrified at the noise and wondering what I had done in moving there, but a month later I didn't notice it at all, and I still don't. I can look up and see the planes and they might as well be completely silent, my brain has just completely tuned them out.
It is a fact that you get used to the noise that surrounds you all day. As a kid I lived right next to the main Bristol to Birmingham railway line (all steam in those days and the engines were working hard going uphill out of Bristol towards Mangotsfield) and I never noticed it.

What I did notice, however, was when I lived in Chipping Sodbury in the 1970s right under the flight path into Filton. When Concordes came in for repair or maintenance I certainly knew about that. But, as they say, that was then and this is now - nothing in the sky today makes as much of a row as a Concorde on final approach.

krallicious

4,312 posts

205 months

Wednesday 13th May 2015
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kev1974 said:
meh I live directly inbetween the two inbound flightpaths over Barnes, first few days of moving there I was horrified at the noise and wondering what I had done in moving there, but a month later I didn't notice it at all, and I still don't. I can look up and see the planes and they might as well be completely silent, my brain has just completely tuned them out.
I used to live in Roehampton and after the first few months you did notice the noise less but after a weekend at home (rural Norfolk) it was stupidly loud for the first couple of days again. Sort of took the edge off Richmond Park.

When we moved to Kingston it was bliss until they changed some of the flight paths and we started to get some planes flying overhead. It is the price you pay for living in that part of the country.

Having said that, the locals around Frankfurt are up in arms about the airport as they are wanting to expand. I have sympathy for some who have lived in their houses for a long time and have had to endure the ever increasing traffic (including night flights) but there is a town next to Frankfurt called Offenbach which is right under the flight path. This is the place you move to if you cannot find/afford a flat/house in Frankfurt. It is a lot cheaper because you are under the flight path but the people who move there complain about the noise! Over the past couple of years, they have changed the flihgt paths so during some hours, the planes fly over the East of the city but it is no where near as loud as London. Once again, it's the price you pay for living in or near a big city.

Sir Humphrey

387 posts

123 months

Wednesday 13th May 2015
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If expanding Heathrow is such a good idea and everybody will use the extra capacity why don't they put the money up themselves and charge airlines a fee for using their new runways?

The amount they go on about how it should be paid for by taxation almost makes me think its not really worth doing.

Axionknight

8,505 posts

135 months

Wednesday 13th May 2015
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esuuv said:
I have to say i think this is all a little bit NIMBY - i live in Richmond, they fly right over and I just totally tune it out, i barely notice the planes - they swap it out / mix it up - even in the summer when the windows are open at night I don't notice them.

Also handy having one of the worlds best connected airports on the doorstep for work.
You're a better man than me, I used to live two miles away from Aberdeen Airport and the planes and helicopters used to ruin my life - I worked nights and was at home during the day, it was a factor in us moving away, although not the primary one.

We now live on the edge of rural Aberdeenshire, no traffic noise, no planes and all my neighbours are old duffers who don't make a bit of noise, bliss.

rs1952

5,247 posts

259 months

Wednesday 13th May 2015
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Sir Humphrey said:
If expanding Heathrow is such a good idea and everybody will use the extra capacity why don't they put the money up themselves and charge airlines a fee for using their new runways?

The amount they go on about how it should be paid for by taxation almost makes me think its not really worth doing.
I seem to recall that you put up the same strawman argument about HS2 on a thread just recently. That's not the way infrastructure projects work.

If we did do things your way, the UK motorway network would never have been built.

In actual fact, airlines are charged a fee for using airport facilities, or perhaps you didn't know that?

Try either using a better argument or remember what you've said on earlier posts and how it was shot down in flames then. Some of us have reasonably good memories wink