The Prime Minister is being urged not to build a third runway at Heathrow, despite the recommendations of a commission looking at boosting airport capacity.
The plea comes from Hammersmith & Fulham Council leader Stephen Cowan and follows the publication of the Airports Commission, otherwise known as the Davies Commission, last week.
David Cameron says a final decision will be made at the end of the year, and Cllr Cowan pointed to a review which found Heathrow expansion would have an adverse affect on the borough.
He said: “We carried out a resident-led, evidence-based review both for and against expansion. The resident-chaired review found Heathrow expansion would have an adverse impact overall.
“We’re asking the government to listen to Hammersmith & Fulham, and many other west London residents, and come forward with a better option than the Davies Commission has proposed.
“The borough’s resident-led commission into Heathrow highlighted how many of our residents already have their sleep shattered by aircraft noise and it would put extra pressure on our roads and increase air pollution. No amount of mitigation could make this acceptable.
“We are urging the government not to support proposals which would be a nightmare for residents and make no financial sense.”
The council’s commission said Heathrow expansion would mean either many more flights over the heads of residents under current flight paths or new paths opened up above residents currently unaffected.
It said there was far too little detail available for residents to feel properly informed.
It also found that it was not possible to rely on replacing aircraft with newer, quieter models to bring noise down to acceptable levels.
Commission chairwoman Christina Smyth said: “For Hammersmith & Fulham the findings of the local residents commission was the overall impact of a third runway would be adverse.
“The risk is that the residents of H&F will pay a heavy price for benefits which are largely elsewhere.”
Sir Howard Davies’s report comes with severe restrictions for the new runway in a bid to reduce environmental and noise effects. These include the banning of night flights and a Parliamentary pledge not to build a fourth runway.
It also says a noise levy should be introduced to fund insulation for homes and schools, and a legal commitment should be made on air quality.
Heathrow expansion would mean an extra 250,000 flights a year, doubling passenger numbers to 150m, and would cost £17.6bn compared to Gatwick’s 9.3bn.
Speaking ahead of the Davies Commission publication, Cllr Wesley Harcourt, cabinet member for environment, transport and technical services, said: “These proposals to expand Heathrow would be a nightmare for residents, many of whom already have their sleep shattered by aircraft noise. Aircraft noise is already at unacceptable levels over parts of the borough and either Heathrow option would only make matters worse.
“It would put extra pressure on our roads and increase air pollution. Overall, we consider that the potential impacts caused by adding 250,000 flights a year and doubling passenger numbers to 150m are so great that no amount of mitigation measures could make expansion acceptable”.
Kensington & Chelsea Council's transport boss Councillor Timothy Coleridge added: “We still continue to believe that an additional runway at Heathrow would be detrimental to the lives of a large number of people living in west London including people living in Chelsea.
"We believe it will increase noise, increase pollution and will lead to considerably more traffic on borough roads."
The Airports Commission was set up to look at airport capacity and recommend a way forward, and looked at three options - building a new runway at Heathrow, building a new runway at Gatwick, or extending an existing runway at Heathrow.
