A new 'Heathrow Garden City' in Hounslow is not dependant on a third runway being built, the Hounslow Council leader has insisted.
Heathrow chief executive John Holland-Kaye this week claimed expansion could pave the way for regeneration around the airport, including the creation of a garden city with 9,000 new homes in Hounslow.
Addressing the Runways UK conference on Monday (July 6), he said: "West London needs regeneration just as much as east London – our neighbours in Southall and Feltham are aspirational and want a better life for themselves and their children.
"Expansion will support the regeneration of west London, and tomorrow you will see an example, with the new Heathrow Garden City in Hounslow, including 9,000 new homes."
Hounslow Council has been working with Heathrow on proposals for the new development, though details of where it might be built have yet to be released and council leader Steve Curran said it was "very early days".
The Airports Commission last week recommended a third runway at Heathrow as the best option to increase the UK's aviation capacity.
However, the Government, which must make the final decision, has yet to respond to the commission's report, and several senior Conservative MPs are opposed to expansion of Heathrow.
Hounslow Council also remains opposed to the airport's expansion, with its official line being that it wants "a better not bigger Heathrow".
But the pair's previously frosty relationship has thawed in recent years and the promise of 9,000 new homes would help the Labour administration fulfil its pledge to secure 3,000 new affordable homes in the borough by 2018.
Mr Curran said: "The [garden city] plan is extremely conceptual at this stage and includes ideas for better transport links to the airport, as well as significant new commercial and residential development that could be facilitated by this infrastructure. It would bring massive regeneration benefits to the west of the borough.
"It is not dependant on a third runway, and could work with the existing set up or with three runways. However, it is critically dependant on better public transport infrastructure.
"Heathrow and Hounslow Council are both supportive of the Southern Rail Access and this new infrastructure needs to be on an alignment that connects Heathrow with Feltham and Bedfont Lakes with two new stations that allows increased development density."
He added that the next step would be to work with residents, stakeholders, neighbours and the Greater London Authority on the ideas within its "masterplan".
In his first speech since the publication of the Airports Commission's final report, Mr Holland-Kaye also called for an early decision from the Government so it could get "shovels in the ground" by 2020 and have the third runway in operation in 2025.
He said Heathrow would start working to secure planning consent, "continue to engage" with local communities and take "practical steps" like starting traffic surveys over the summer.
He also unveiled the airport's new blueprint to increase public transport by more than 10% over the next four years, which includes pushing for a western rail link to the airport and a 24-hour tube and bus service between Heathrow and central London.
He said when the third runway opens in 2025, Heathrow would be served by five railways and five motorways and would have the country's biggest bus and coach station.
