Petition handed to Parliament

7:30am Sunday 27th July 2008

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A FAMILY angered by alleged plans to build a road through a Harlington cemetery are glad their “hard work” campaigning has paid off.

A petition organised by mother and daughter Edna and Natasha La Mothe has been handed into Parliament.

They have been rallying around to collect signatures and have managed to get around 8,000.

They said they were horrified when they saw plans which included what looked like an access road to Heathrow Airport going through Cherry Lane Cemetery.

The plans showing the roads were published by BAA, the airport’s operator, as part of its consultation over plans for a third runway and sixth terminal.

John McDonnell, MP for Hayes and Harlington, who has been fighting against the expansion plans for many years, handed the petition in to Parliament.

Edna was prompted to start up the petition because her husband is buried in the Shepiston Lane cemetery.

Natasha, said: “Mr McDonnell told us that we can keep re-submitting the petition, so that has kept our spirits up.

“Before it was handed in, Mr McDonnell put together numbers for both the online and paper signatures and I couldn’t believe there were almost 8,000 on there.

“It just shows all our hard work and the running around I have been doing to make people aware of the plans has paid off.”

Natasha said she has handed out a large number of maps to people enabling them to make their own mind up about whether they want to sign the petition or not.