RBWM prioritises a good night's sleep for residents in ‘elevator pitch’ to Heathrow

The council’s ‘elevator pitch’ to Heathrow about how the Royal Borough can benefit from the airport expansion is a ‘reasonably simple message’, an aviation forum heard this week.

The group met on Tuesday to approve a ‘strategic mission’ document, which outlines the council’s ‘core demands’ from the airport, the government and the airlines.

Heathrow’s proposed expansion, including proposals for a third runway, has been a highly divisive ‘Marmite’ issue in the Royal Borough, concurred councillors.

Campaigners have decried the environmental impacts and raised noise concerns – particularly in Windsor – while business groups acknowledge the potential economic boost for the Thames Valley.

Under the former Conservative administration, the council previously set aside £150,000 for a legal challenge against the proposals.

The five-page mission document approved unanimously by the RBWM Aviation Forum this week was ‘deliberately concise’ for ‘maximum’ support from stakeholders and other authorities, it read.

The three key priority areas are a good night’s sleep, sustainable development and a fair deal for locals.

But Councillor Julian Sharpe (Con, Ascot and Sunninghill) criticised the document for being ‘insubstantial’ and ‘lacking in meaningful detail’.

“This is a fairly low bar for us to present to Heathrow,” he added.

“I think it lacks ambition.

“This document should have more in it about ensuring that our residents get a benefit from the airport, whatever that development is, and whenever those developments are.”

He described the strategy as a ‘wafer’ which will be ignored and an ‘insubstantial’ negotiating position in terms of protecting residents.

“If we don’t put that very clearly in front of them, we’re missing a trick,” he added.

Referring to the documents already in circulation about Heathrow and its plans, meeting chair Councillor Mark Howard (Lib Dem, Bisham and Cookham) said, ‘detail is a barrier for people to get to grips with the subject’.

“The more detail we put in it, the more we divide people,” he added, stressing the importance of a ‘united voice’.

“We need to make sure that our message is simple,” he said.

“We have to influence people who are going to influence people who may influence people who may make a decision.

“We are so far down the food chain.”

A good night’s sleep is important to residents and mustn’t be ‘buried in a lot of detail regarding other issues’ when brought to the negotiating table, he added.

RBWM assistant director of placemaking, partnership and sustainability, Chris Joyce said neither principle ‘has greater weight than the other’ but together they are ‘what your elevator pitch would be to Heathrow’.

“This is an umbrella document. It's not designed to be exhaustive in detail. I think it’s meant to be accessible and easy to understand,” added Councillor Karen Davies (Lib Dem, Clewer East).

The forum agreed to ‘beef up’ the existing document by adding details on ‘maximising transport improvements’ and ‘benefits to residents’, before voting in favour of approval.

“There's no point in surrounding a flag and dying by it,” said Councillor Howard.

“We actually want the airport to deliver things to our residents. Not to say we fought the 100 per cent perfect fight and we died, but we didn't deliver anything.

"We want no night flights. It's as simple as that.

“People have stopped trusting Heathrow to be both poacher and gamekeeper.

"So we need independent delivery of the criteria that they’re going to live by – the time of flight, the height of flights, the turns of flights.

“At the moment, no one really believes Heathrow is policing it effectively. We need those promises to be welded to anything that happens.”