‘All we’re asking for is a good night’s sleep’ – councillors call for tougher Heathrow rules

The Royal Borough will appeal to the Government to address ‘major challenges’ coming from Heathrow airport and its impact on the health of the Royal Borough

Strong concerns were raised by multiple councillors at a full council meeting on Tuesday evening in the wake of a motion to write to the Government about Heathrow.

Specifically, a motion was filed to ask the council leader to write to Government to encourage them to address:

• the health destroying impact of noise pollution, especially at night
• the weakness of present airspace rules enforcement
• the environmental impact of flying and the journey to the airport
• the history of broken economic improvement promises
• the need to achieve maximum economic benefit for RBWM residents
• the need to minimise disruption to residents caused by low-flying aircraft.

The motion was brought forward by Councillor Richard Coe (Lib Dem, Riverside).

Cllr Coe discussed how Royal Borough residents living under the flight path are woken at 4.30am with alarming frequency.

“Currently, Heathrow is allowed 5,800 take-offs and landings a year between 11.30pm and 6am – that’s an average of 16 flights a day,” he said.

Lack of sleep has health implications, he said, as well as economic ones, affecting people’s performance, communication, concentration, memory and risk awareness.

“Our primary demand is not unreasonable. All we are asking for is a good night's sleep,” he said.

The ‘next demand’ is a ‘fairer share’ of whatever positives may come of any mitigations – for example, for carbon off-setting from tree planting to happen in the borough, not further afield.

“We pay the price every day for being Heathrow’s neighbour,” said Cllr Coe. “It’s entirely reasonable we get more back in return.”

He added that there needed to be ‘stronger rules’, backed up by an independent arbitrator – and for night flights to incur an economic penalty to discourage it.

Several councillors shared his concerns, including the impact on children and their hearing.

Cllr Amy Tisi (Lib Dem, Clewer East) in particular felt young people should be consulted, as it will affect them the most.

She said young people she spoke to felt that Heathrow expansion could contribute heavily to congestion on the M4. This, combined with unreliable rail services, ‘could be detrimental’ to the careers of young people.

Several councillors know first-hand the problems of living under the flight path, such as Cllr Jodie Grove (Ind, Datchet, Horton and Wraysbury), who was concerned about housing.

“I live under the flight path and can attest to the ever-increasing flights that we experience both during the day and at night,” she said.

“I still wake up with my heart in my mouth thinking my house is about to fall down.

“We know we have a large amount of older housing within the borough, Victorian houses which were definitely not built to withstand the ongoing onslaught from ever-increasing flights.

“As planes get larger and flights more frequent, I have serious concerns about the long-term impact and the cost implications on the majority of our housing stock under the flight path.”

Councillors voted unanimously in favour of the motion to write to Government calling for action.

Responding after the meeting, a Heathrow spokesperson said: “We know noise is an important topic for our neighbours and we have worked hard to deliver continuous reductions.

“Heathrow has been full for many years and there has been no increase in flight numbers, while our noise footprint has reduced by 41 per cent since 2006. We are committed to doing more and our noise action plan sets out how we will improve further in the years to come.

“Connecting our local community to the economic benefits of having Heathrow on the doorstep is vital. We have a range of free advice, workshops and networking opportunities to help students, jobseekers and local businesses alike tap into unrivalled opportunities to learn, work and do business at the airport.

“Just this week we pledged to increase our apprenticeship scheme to 500 places by 2030, all ring-fenced to those who live and study locally.”