Timetable sought (From Hillingdon Times)

Timetable sought

2:17pm Friday 15th July 2005 in News By Rachel Sharp

THE CAMPAIGN against expansion at Heathrow airport is hotting up as a local MP took a delegation of colleagues to meet the new aviation minister.

John McDonnell, Labour MP for Hayes and Harlington, the constituency most affected by plans at Heathrow, led the MPs to meet new aviation minister Karen Buck MP to press for more openness in the decision- making process for the proposed third runway.

Mr McDonnell said: "My constituents are extremely concerned to ensure that the decision over whether a runway goes ahead or not is made fairly and properly and that the whole process is totally open and transparent.

"We also want a clear timetable to be set which prevents continuing blight on our homes and communities. The government has established a group of experts drawn from the aviation industry, local government and academia under Project Heathrow to advise it on whether a third runway is feasible on environmental grounds.

"At the ministerial meeting we gained an assurance that there would be full transparency in this process. It was agreed that we would have open access to the information and research commissioned by Project Heathrow and that from here on we would have regular meetings with the officials and minister."

Joining Mr McDonnell in the delegation was Alan Keen MP Feltham and Heston, David Wiltshire MP Spelthorne, Susan Kramer MP, Richmond, and Baroness Sally Hamwee.

Mr McDonnell said: "We made it clear to the minister that at this stage we believe the government should rule out once and for all the possibility of a new runway and thus lift the blight from our community."