Public Meeting on the Government’s Consultation on the Proposed 3rd Runway & 6th Terminal

As you may be aware the Government has published its consultation paper on the proposals for 3rd runway and 6th terminal. The consultation will run for 14 weeks from 22 November 2007 – 27th February 2008.

Local residents and community organisations have the opportunity to submit their views on the proposals set out in the consultation document.

These proposals would have a devastating effect on our local community. I am writing to invite you to a public meeting to discuss the consultation paper and how we can respond locally to the Government proposal.

I have arranged two meetings to accommodate the attendance of local residents. The meetings will be held as follows;

Thursday 29th November at Heathrow School, Harmondsworth Lane, Sipson, West Drayton at 8pm and

Monday 3rd December at Harlington Baptist Church, Harlington High Street, Harlington at 8pm

If you wish to register your views you can send a written response to the freepost address provided below or via a response form that is available on http://www.dft.gov.uk/consultations/open/heathrowconsultation/ . The Department for Transport are also planning a series of public exhibitions. The dates and venues are available on their website.

Please ensure this is done before the consultation deadline of 27 February 2008.

Freepost RRRR-TARL-ABJS
Adding Capacity at Heathrow Airport
(DfT Consultation)
Research Services House
Elmgrove Road
Harrow
HA1 2QG

I hope you can attend one of these important meetings and I look forward to seeing you then.

Local MP John McDonnell backs national campaign for warm homes

Local MP John McDonnell is backing a national campaign that aims to highlight the plight of households who are concerned about being able to heat their homes to adequate levels this winter.

The Warm Homes Campaign is the annual winter campaign organised by fuel poverty charity national Energy Action (NEA). It runs through November and is organised in association with eaga, and supported by the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs.

The campaign aims to cut the number of excess winter deaths and reduce cold-related illnesses by raising awareness of the help available to people who cannot afford to heat their homes in winter.

MPs, Members of the Scottish Parliament and Welsh Assembly members are supporting this year’s campaign.

Local MP John McDonnell said “I am particularly pleased to be supporting the Warm Homes Campaign. Fuel poverty is a serious issue. It is vital to help people make their homes more energy efficient. A more energy efficient household costs less to keep warm. In this day and age, no-one should have to spend the winter without affordable heat for their home. I want to see an end to fuel poverty in Hayes and Harlington and across the rest of the UK”.

Approximately one in six UK households are unable to affordably heat their homes. Cold homes affect people’s health and wellbeing and are linked to cardiovascular illnesses such as heart disease and strokes as well as respiratory illnesses such as asthma and bronchitis. The elderly, families with young children, people with disabilities and those on low incomes are especially at risk from the dangers of cold homes.

There are an average of 30 excess winter deaths linked to cold homes every year in Hayes and Harlington. This year, higher energy prices could push that figure even higher.

Jenny Saunders, NEA Chief Executive, said: “For millions of families and individuals, winter brings poor health, isolation, debt and worry. We believe that this is unacceptable.

“The Warm Homes Campaign aims to highlight the effects of fuel poverty and to offer positive and practical solutions to the problem.

“During the month of campaign activity we will be urging Government to recognise the effects escalating energy costs have had on fuel-poor households and provide extra resources to help lift people out of fuel poverty and protect them from and future increases in energy prices”.


Ashley Guise, Divisional Managing Director for eaga, said: “With winter deaths and poor health still being caused simply because people are living in cold and damp homes this is an extremely important campaign and eaga is only too happy to lend its support. Making homes warmer, dryer and healthier changes lives for the better and for the long term”.

Anyone who is worried about their winter fuel bill should call the Home Heat Helpline on 0800 336699 for information and advice on keeping warm in winter. For more information about grants available to keep your home warm, call freephone 0800 3166014.

Flight from reality

With his determined speech on climate change earlier this week, Gordon Brown appeared to begin the process of confounding critics who have been demanding that he articulate his vision for our country. Hopes were raised among many environmental campaign groups that this could be a pivotal moment in securing a sense of urgency in government and in framing basic environmental priorities which could then be translated into concrete, long-term, environmental policies.

Within four days these hopes were dashed when the government was faced with its first major environmental policy decision on whether to go ahead with the expansion of Heathrow airport. Many were hoping that for the first time in the history of aviation in this country a government would stand up to the demands of the airport and airline companies for continuous expansion no matter what the environmental cost, and say enough is enough.

In effect Gordon Brown bottled it. He did what every other government has done for the past 70 years. He has acceded to everything the aviation industry wants to maximise its short term profits while colluding with the big airport companies in a pantomime process of phoney consultation to cover up the devastating environmental and social impact of airport expansion.

No wonder people feel betrayed and have expressed such deep disappointment that the first Brown vision speech was within days exposed as just the same old spin.

Heathrow is in my constituency and I have been at both the Terminal 4 and Terminal 5 planning inquiries. At these inquiries my community has been assured by the inquiry inspectors, BAA and government ministers that each development would be the last piece of expansion of the airport because of its ever-increasing noise and air pollution.

At the Terminal 5 inquiry BAA wrote to me and my constituents and placed on the record of the inquiry that if it was allowed to build Terminal 5 it would not require or ask for a third runway. This government's transport minister stood up in parliament and put a cap on the number of aircraft movements at Heathrow to protect the environment.

Within months of gaining permission for Terminal 5, BAA was lobbying for a third runway. Then they were forced to admit that this meant a Sixth Terminal and only this week has expanded the size of the proposed new runway. This would mean a virtual doubling of the number of flights to and from the airport. And yet the government wants us to believe that this massive increase in operations will result in no increase in air or noise pollution. How does the government know this? Because BAA has supplied them with all the evidence to prove it. Convinced?

What the government's consultation documents never explain is the brutal reality of the devastating impact expanding Heathrow will have on communities immediately surrounding the airport. Using the only reliable evidence available from an earlier independent set of studies in the 1990s, which the government has largely buried, it is projected that up to 4,000 homes could be either demolished or rendered unliveable by air and noise pollution. Whole communities would be wiped off the face of the map; churches, community centres, three primary schools, and the potential forced removal of up to 10,000 people. The largest forced migration since the Scottish clearances.

In addition to the noise and pollution loaded on to at least another two million people across London, the expansion of aviation on this scale will offset by 2050 the measures proposed to reduce carbon emissions across the rest of industry.

Government ministers yet again trot out the arguments prepared for them by the former head of communications at Number 10, now employed by BAA, that unless Heathrow expands jobs will be lost, our economy will be crippled and European competitors will steal our business.

The reality is that locally airport expansion can bring as many economic disbenefits by forcing up land prices, prompting manufacturing to move out and leaving the local economy vulnerable by being overdependent on the airport while gaining little from transit passengers except their carbon footprint.

Nationally, unrestrained Heathrow expansion has prevented the balanced development of regional airports and their economies and the planning of an integrated transport system maximising more environmentally friendly modes of transport such as rail linked more effectively to Europe.

Internationally, after last week's dire UN report on climate change, it is clearly time to put aside puerile attitudes about competition with Frankfurt and Paris and recognise that we have to strategically plan a European transport system if we are to stand any chance of tackling climate change. Anyway, it is bizarre that BAA is banging the British nationalist drum when it has just been taken over by the Spanish company Ferrovial, which is cutting staff and attacking their pensions in order to repatriate its profits to Spain.

The government/aviation industry coalition is supremely confident that it can fix the consultation process and use New Labour's proposed new planning laws to force through Heathrow expansion. I believe it is fundamentally mistaken. Heathrow is set to become the iconic site in Europe upon which the most significant fight against climate change will be fought. If the parliamentary and planning processes are fixed, this year's climate camp will be looked upon as a very minor skirmish in comparison with the level of protest which could be expected.

John McDonnell MP
This article was published on the Guardian website on the 24th November 2007.

Labour MP John McDonnell accuses Government of Betrayal over Heathrow Expansion Plans

Local MP John McDonnell, whose constituency includes Heathrow airport, has accused the Government of betrayal over its announcement today that it will back a third runway and sixth terminal at Heathrow.

John said ”The Government has betrayed the communities that will be devastated by this massive expansion of Heathrow airport and betrayed all those who believed the Prime Minister’s promises this week to tackle climate change. The Government’s proposals go well beyond the plans set out in the original aviation white paper and will double the size of the airport. This will result in the forced clearance of up to 10.000 people from their homes with the demolition of whole communities, homes, schools, and churches. People feel betrayed on every count.”

“Betrayed because the Government promised a short runway, but they have now come forward with a full length runway with a sixth terminal wiping out even more homes and communities.”

“Betrayed because it has now been revealed that BAA has been allowed to dictate the Government’s drafting of the consultation paper. The credibility of the consultation document has been rendered laughable by the Government’s argument that a doubling of the size of the airport will have no impact on increasing air and noise pollution and climate change.”

“Betrayed because the consultation has been curtailed and fixed in advance by the Government is refusing to even have a consultation exhibition in Sipson, the very village they acknowledge will be demolished.”

“Betrayed because in the week Gordon Brown made his main speech on climate change his government announces an expansion of aviation which will undermine any attempt to meet emission reduction targets and is to introduce new planning legislation to prevent local people having an effective say in the planning process to determine this expansion proposal.”

“I warn the Government that it now faces against it the biggest environmental campaign that we have seen in our history, which will permanently destroy its environmental credentials.”

The Barnhill Estate officially becomes an Area of Special Local Character

Local MP John McDonnell today hailed the news that the Barnhill Estate has been classed as an Area of Special Local Character.

The Barnhill Initiative, set up eight years ago, is a partnership of councillors, residents associations, environmental groups, Police and local schools which meets on a regular basis to drive through improvements for quality of life on the estate.

The estate became an Area of Special Local Character on 9th November following consultation with residents and a Cabinet Decision made in September 2007.

Residents have been informed by letter and an information leaflet, and all planning applications received for this area will now be looked at by the Conservation and Urban Design Team.

Classification as an Area of Special Local Character helps to preserve or enhance the character or appearance of the area. Areas of Special Local Character are older parts of the Borough, which have a special local character, in terms of their townscape, architecture and landscape features, and which the Council considers should be conserved or improved.

Local MP John McDonnell said: “This is a major success for the Barnhill Initiative. We have campaigned for years to improve the estate and classification as an Area of Special Local Character will give the Barnhill Estate much needed protection”.

For more information please contact the office of John McDonnell MP.

Local Post Office branch reopens

Local MP John McDonnell today highlighted the reopening of the Park Parade Post Office branch at 4 Park Parade, Barra Hall Circus, Botwell Lane, Hayes, Middlesex UB3 2NU.

Following the temporary closure of the above Post Office on 27th April 2006, the Post Office has announced that the branch will be reopened on 10th December 2007.

The facilities at this branch, including the range of services, opening hours and access will remain as before the temporary closure.

Local MP John McDonnell said “A Post Office is a crucial community resource and I am pleased to see this one reopen. Local people will benefit from this decision”.

For more information about the reopening of this branch or other local Post Office issues please contact:

Philippa Newey
Field Change Advisor
Post Office Ltd
c/o National Consultation Team
PO Box 2060
Watford
WD18 8ZW

Local MP John McDonnell’s Adjournment Debate about HM Submarine Affray

Local MP John McDonnell yesterday (Wednesday 14th November) discussed HM submarine Affray in an adjournment debate with Mr Bob Ainsworth MP, Minister for the Armed Forces.

The story of the tragedy of Her Majesty’s submarine Affray begins on 16 April 1951, when she made her way into the English channel with 75 officers and ratings on board, dived, and never again resurfaced. To this day questions remain about why the Affray was lost. Not knowing what happens still lies heavily on the surviving families of her crew, who bear to this day, 56 years later, the sadness and sense of loss suffered when their loved ones failed to return home.

One of those families was that of Able Seaman George—known as Ginger—Leakey, who lived in the Hayes constituency. He joined the Royal Navy in 1945 and a year later volunteered to serve on submarines. It is a tragic irony that he was never meant to sail on the Affray that day. He was on official shore leave visiting his wife Eileen who was expecting their second child. However, he received an urgent telegram summoning him back to his boat as another member of the crew had been judged unfit to serve. The daughter Able Seaman Leakey would never see is my constituent, Mrs Georgina Gander, who was at Parliament on Wednesday to witness the Affray adjournment debate.

MP John McDonnell is in support of an investigation using modern technology and diving equipment to finally solve the mystery of why the Affray was lost.

Local MP John McDonnell encourages local people to take advantage of the Child Trust Fund

Local MP John McDonnell today reminded local people that their children may be eligible for a Child Trust Fund.

Child Trust Fund (CTF) is a savings and investment account for children. Children born on or after 1st September 2002 will receive a £250 voucher to start their account. The account belongs to the child and can't be touched until they turn 18, so that children have some money behind them to start their adult life.

Children eligible for the Child Trust Fund will receive a further Child Trust Fund payment of £250 at age 7, with children from lower-income families receiving £500. Eligibility will be similar to that for the initial payments and will be based on the child being born on or after 1 September 2002, living in the UK and being the subject of a Child Benefit award on the child’s seventh birthday.

Local MP John McDonnell is raising awareness of this Government scheme as he is concerned that not all families eligible for the award are receiving it, especially lower-income families who are not financially confident.

In respect of children born up to 5th April 2006, 4,983 vouchers were issued in Hayes and Harlington. Of these, only 74.2% were used by parents to open an account. The national average of voucher use for constituencies across the UK was 75.7%. Children whose vouchers were not redeemed had their £250 automatically placed in a Revenue Allocated Account.

Local MP John McDonnell is keen to increase the number of local people who redeem their vouchers and apply for Child Trust Funds, and suggests that those who can should make additional contributions in order to make the most of the opportunities the Child Trust Fund represents.

Local MP John McDonnell said “This scheme should give every child extra financial help when they enter adulthood. I call upon all parents to make sure they take full advantage of the Child Trust Fund in order to give their child the best start in life. Starting a Child Trust Fund is simple and if you do have any questions, you can call the Child Trust Fund Helpline”.

For more information about the scheme please log on to the Child Trust Fund website at http://www.childtrustfund.gov.uk/ or call the Child Trust Fund Helpline on 0845 302 1470.

Local MP John McDonnell tackles tinnitus with help from RNID

Local MP John McDonnell has pledged to help his constituents to tackle tinnitus – the medical term for noises inside the ears or head.

RNID research reveals that 15% of people have experienced tinnitus, but 70% of GPs surveyed by the charity have never had any training on the condition.

RNID, which represents the UK’s 9 million deaf and hard of hearing people, has joined forces with Unum, the UK’s leading disability insurer, to call on GPs to improve the advice and support they give patients with tinnitus and to support people with tinnitus in their efforts to lead a full life, including at work.

Local MP John McDonnell said: “Tinnitus is an extremely serious condition which can cause great hardship. It is extremely difficult to relax at home or concentrate on working with constant buzzing or ringing in your ears.

“RNID’s dedicated new tinnitus website and helpline are doing a great job to support people with this condition and help them get on with their lives. However, we need to do more to improve GP’s understanding of this condition – I’ll be speaking to my Local Primary Care Trust to make sure the estimated 12,450 tinnitus sufferers in Hayes and Harlington are getting the medical support they need”.

Brian Lamb, Acting CEO of RNID, said: “Tinnitus can be a debilitating condition for many people, leaving them feeling isolated and stressed – particularly if they can’t access the medical advice they need to help manage it.

“Unfortunately there is no cure – however, it can be managed with simple techniques and equipment. We’re delighted that John McDonnell MP has pledged to help tinnitus sufferers get the best care and advice to manage their condition. Also, if you have tinnitus, you’re not alone – RNID’s new website and dedicated tinnitus helpline provide expert information and tips to help you ‘Tune out Tinnitus’ and live your life to the full”.

Joanne Hindle, Corporate Services Director at Unum, said: “We’re delighted to join forces with RNID and John McDonnell MP to increase understanding and treatment of tinnitus. We are particularly pleased to help highlight a condition which can have debilitating effects both at work and at home, but which can be managed with proper understanding. We would extend the campaign to employers who also need to understand what changes they might make that could support employees with this condition.

“By working with local health services and GPs, together we can deliver the best care for people whose lives are blighted by this condition”.

For more information on tinnitus, the RNID or Unum, please contact Donna Tipping (RNID) on 020 72968229 or 07944 038635 or John Hutson (Unum) on 01306 873 471 or 07876 036746.

Local MP John McDonnell backs bid for Astro-turf pitch for Botwell Green

Local MP John McDonnell has backed a bid to the Football Foundation for a grant to create an Astro-turf pitch on the Botwell Green site at East Avenue in Hayes Town centre.

This week the Council Sports Development section has appointed consultants to prepare the bid and John McDonnell has written to the Football Foundation urging support for this proposal.

Local MP John Mcdonnell said “This site is located in the ward within my constituency which has the highest levels of deprivation within the whole borough of Hillingdon. This area has been plagued by high levels of antisocial behaviour, crime and drug dealing amongst young people.

There is a critical need to provide alternative diversionary activities for young people within the area, particularly sporting activities. The current site provides an open field for general kickabout football and other games. However, the site in unusable for many months throughout the winter.

The proposal to locate an Astro-turf pitch would provide the ideal sporting facility to meet the needs of local young people and to divert them into constructive sports activities and away from antisocial behaviour.

I have also asked for assurances from the Council and the Football Foundation that if the current open space is replaced with an Astro-turf pitch then the informal access which is currently available to your people will not be lost and that local people will not be priced out of this facility”.

Highlighting TfL’s half price bus concession for people on Income Support

Local MP John McDonnell offered his support for a new scheme from the Mayor of London, Ken Livingstone. Launched in August, the scheme allows up to 250,000 of the least well-off Londoners to benefit from half price bus and tram travel.

The initiative entitles all Londoners on Income Support to receive half-price bus and tram travel, including lone parents, carers, long-term sick people and disabled people. This means that Londoners on the lowest incomes will pay 45p for a single bus journey, which is half the 90p adult Oyster fare and less than a quarter of the £2 cash fare.

The initiative follows an agreement signed earlier this year by the Mayor, Transport for London (TfL) and Venezuelan oil company Petróleos de Venezuela Europa, to provide fuel for the Capital’s bus fleet.

Local MP John McDonnell is the President of the campaigning organisation “Hands Off Venezuela” which has worked to support the Chávez government in Venezuela, and met with President Chávez on his visit to the UK last year.

Application forms and leaflets for the discount scheme are available from Post Offices in the Greater London area and http://www.tfl.gov.uk/discountcard . They will also be available in the near future from John McDonnell MP’s Constituency Office. Please call 0800 731 4546 for more information about the scheme.

Local MP John McDonnell said “This is a welcome initiative which will benefit many local people. I will be working with TfL to ensure that as many local people as possible who qualify can benefit from this scheme”.

Local MP John McDonnell supports Road Safety Week campaign to save children’s lives on the road

Local MP John McDonnell is joining Road Safety Week calls by Brake, the road safety charity, for urgent action to stop child death and injury on foot and bike on roads in London and the South East.

Road Safety Week runs from the 5th to the 11th November.

Local MP John McDonnell highlighted the release of a shocking survey, released today (6th November), which reveals that; six in ten children (59%) in London and the South East feel plagued by fast traffic in their community; six in ten (59%) feel that even the roads around their schools are dangerous; and more than a third (36%) know someone who has been knocked down. Their views are backed by teachers; eight in ten (79%) said there were dangerous roads near their schools.

The survey was coordinated by road safety charity Brake.

Government statistics uncovered by Brake reveal the appalling extent of deaths and injuries among children on foot and bike in the region. In 2006, 443 children were killed or seriously injured while walking or cycling on roads in the South East – that is 9 per week. For further details and more statistics from the survey please get in touch with Brake using the contact details below.

While progress has been made in reducing child deaths in the past decade, Brake believes the shocking figures revealed in the survey should act as a wake-up call for Government and that every child death on the roads is one too many.

Cathy Keeler, head of campaigns at Brake, said: “fast traffic blights children’s lives and kills. In a civilised society it is a disgrace that we allow children to die on roads. Every death is horrific and devastating. TV campaigns and central government guidance to local authorities to introduce child safety measures are not enough. We need more Government investment in 20mph safety zones around schools and homes in all communities, comprehensive enforcement of these zones, and all drivers to understand that it is simply shameful to drive any faster in these areas. This will stop deaths and transform communities”.

Local MP John McDonnell said: “too many of our children are being killed and maimed as a result of road accidents. That is why I am calling for the Government to treat this matter seriously and take urgent action”.

For more information on Road Safety Week, please visit http://www.brake.org.uk/