Is Heathrow trying to bribe west London residents over third runway expansion?

The leaders of four councils including Hillingdon have accused Heathrow Airport of attempting to bribe residents by promising to ban night flights and reduce congestion if the third runway is built.

In September, Heathrow bosses proposed increasing the number of yearly flights by 25,000 if the Government approves expansion of the west London hub.

Heathrow chiefs also said that a vehicle emissions charge could be introduced to cut congestion and that there would be no flights before 5.30am.

But the four councils have dismissed these claims as "woolly commitments".

'Feeble emotional bribe'

Leader of Richmond Council, Lord True, said: “Yet again this is another feeble emotional bribe from Heathrow.

“They have cherry-picked one of the many valid reasons against expansion and made woolly commitments that they simply cannot deliver.

“Londoners should not be fooled.”

The leaders of Hillingdon, Richmond , Royal Borough of Windsor and Maidenhaead and Wandsworth councils have spoken out against Heathrow's comments.

Heathrow is currently capped at a total of 480,000 flights a year but has proposed an increase while the third runway is being built.

According to an airport spokesman the increased flights could draw an additional £1.5 billion into the economy between 2021 and the third runway's opening in 2025.

These comments come shortly after a war of words broke out between pro-expansion campaign group Back Heathrow and the Hayes MP John McDonnell.

'725,000 already exposed to noise above recommended limit'

Leader of Hillingdon Council , Councillor Ray Puddifoot, said: “Heathrow already has a massive noise footprint with about 725,000 people already exposed to noise above the recommended noise limit.

“A third runway would give Heathrow a noise pollution record that is worse than that of the top five European airports put together.

“This latest plan to add more flights before it is even constructed will just add more environmental damage on top of the chaos the construction of an additional runway will already bring to the area.”

Decision expected in October

The decision on whether to expand Heathrow Airport to include a third runway is expected to be made by the Government this month.

A Heathrow spokesman said: “Expanding Heathrow will make west London more prosperous with thousands of new local jobs and apprenticeships, and we'll do it while making the airport quieter and protecting the considerable environmental commitments we have made.”