DfT Exhibition during the day followed by
Richmond Council Public Meeting at 8pm

"Just 20 Seconds From Disaster" screamed the Daily Mail headline on the morning of Friday 18th January 2008, as people awoke to images on every newspaper front page of a Boeing 777 that crash-landed just short of the runway at Heathrow. Thankfully there were no casualties, but the incident may well have helped focus people's minds afresh on the controversies surrounding Heathrow airport.

The volume of locals who were intrigued, depressed or furious as they arrived to see the Department for Transport's Public Consultation exhibition at Parkshot that day was impressive. Of the sequence of official events held so far, the one at Richmond Adult College was "the busiest yet" according to Nick Court of the DfT's Events Management team. By the end of the day, more than 800 people had passed through.

A great many of them also visited the 'alternative exhibition' where Richmond Heathrow Campaign took its place alongside Richmond Council, 2M, HACAN, Friends of the Earth and others in explaining to people why the expansion plans were damaging. Ruth Kelly was not among them. The Secretary of State for Transport was seen, however, at the official exhibition for an hour during the morning, perhaps stung into attendance by recent criticism of her for not being willing to engage directly with the public on the plans to make Heathrow bigger, busier, noisier and dirtier.

Ruth Kelly did not attend the evening's public meeting either, despite being invited by the council to attend. But almost 500 local people did, almost filling Duke Street church to the brim. Chaired by the leader of Richmond Council, Cllr Serge Lourie, the meeting fully aired the issues and the council's part in opposing Heathrow expansion, along with the eleven other west London councils who together make up the '2M' coalition.

Cllr Nicholas True, Leader of the Opposition on Richmond Council, stressed the impressive cross-party nature of opposition to expansion, saying he wanted no party-political in-fighting over this issue, it being more important to maintain unity in order to defend the interests of the people of Richmond. Cllr Stephen Knight, Deputy Leader of the council added that the council was not essentially anti-Heathrow, but nevertheless was "determined" to "do everything we can" to oppose the unnecessary and "never-ending expansion" of Heathrow. He referred to the unfair fuel subsidy enjoyed by the airlines and pointed out that most studies on which the government's economic arguments rest had been paid for by the aviation industry itself. He accused the government of being "in thrall to the aviation industry".

The sole advocate for expansion was Lord Soley, leader of Future Heathrow, a coalition of business, trade unions, the aviation community, and other professional associations. Weathering the heckling that came from the floor, he set out the reasons why he had always supported the need to expand Heathrow ever since, as plain Clive Soley, he was MP for Hammersmith. It was important for Heathrow to remain a thriving "hub" in competition with continental airports at Frankfurt, Amsterdam, Paris and elsewhere. Jobs depended on it. He did, however, lament the fact that there was not enough in the government's policy about enhancing integrated public transport to and from Heathrow.

He was followed by John Stewart, Chairman of HACAN, who tackled the government's economic case for expansion, as outlined by Lord Soley. He re-emphasised that the economic advice given the government was inherently "flawed", having been paid for by BAA itself. He denied the truth of the 'bounty for all' assertion that a bigger Heathrow is vital for the London and UK economy. He called for mass attendance at the HACAN rally at Westminster Central Hall, planned for 7pm on Monday 25th February.

Cllr Lourie thanked Richmond Heathrow Campaign (RHC) for its recent work in mobilising interest and analysing both the proposals and questionnaire and how it should be tackled. Neil Maybin of RHC & the Richmond Society then summarised the impact of the proposals specifically on Richmond and its residents - particularly with reference to more noise from the ending of runway alternation and the prospect of take-offs beginning to cross Richmond Hill and the town itself. He also recommended that people register their opposition by filling in the government's questionnaire, and referred people to this website to find guidance on how most effectively they might tackle the array of leading questions it contains.

The final platform speaker was Susan Kramer, MP for Richmond Park. She lambasted the government's "hideous" public consultation exercise as a sham. The questionnaire was "completely incomprehensible" she said, apparently having been designed, by its intimidating complexity, to actually "discourage people from filling it out". She reported that the Plain English Campaign had condemned "atrocious" questionnaire and had called for its withdrawal. Nevertheless she urged people to fill it out, with reference to the guidance offered by RHC, and to actually write comments such as "this is incomprehensible" where necessary. The government, she said, was "counting on apathy" for its plans to go through, and stressed the need for people to engage and keep up the momentum of opposition. She contradicted Lord Soley's argument about the need to compete with continental airports. There is no "arms race" in which Heathrow has to get bigger, she said, and the airport should have a more sensible future as a proper surface transport hub. Ruth Kelly's non-attendance at the meeting was a "disgrace", she said. She also noted that opposition to expansion was "strong and deep" among the political parties in the affected areas, but that the Tory party front-bench was "still making up its mind". She called on Zac Goldsmith, Conservative Parliamentary Candidate for Richmond Park at the next election, to declare his own opposition to Heathrow expansion.

Goldsmith, commenting from the floor, said he had always personally been opposed to expanding Heathrow "relentlessly". He advocated better development of high-speed trains to eliminate most domestic flights and urged people to get behind HACAN's campaign. This was echoed by Tony Arbour (Con), Richmond's representative on the Greater London Assembly, who urged residents to "lead the opposition" by energetically supporting HACAN.

Comments and questions from the floor then followed. Residents from the town and elsewhere across the borough covered issues such as a need for better high-speed rail links; the intrusiveness of noise and its impact on local schools and on property prices; worries over air-pollution and Heathrow's contribution to climate change; an increased danger of planes coming down over west London; and the unfairness of aviation industry continuing to profit at the expense of residents. One finance professional commented that campaigning would only become truly effective if people from the local business community and those working in the financial services sector - ie. those who "have the ear of cabinet" - could also be mobilised.

Lord Solely was asked: if the economic case for expansion was so compelling, then why stop at a third runway? He replied that there was no need for a fourth runway, a comment in which some found echoes of similar dismissals of the need for a third runway at the time of the Terminal 5 inquiry. Susan Kramer and Serge Lourie observed that broken promises had been "going on for years" while the airport was allowed to grow and grow again. Lord Soley observed that the people represented by Future Heathrow were more representative than those present in the hall, and said that the 500,000 jobs tied up in the aviation industry needed a bigger future at Heathrow.

In closing the meeting, Cllr Lourie declared he did not believe that expansion plans were "a done deal". Expansion was "not inevitable" he said. He pledged that the council would remain determined in opposing the plans, through the courts if necessary. Finally, he called for a straw poll: "Do you support the council's opposition to the expansion of Heathrow?", he asked. The show of hands in the hall was unanimous. With the obvious exception of Lord Soley himself, not one person voted against the motion.