Windsor & Maidenhead: Opinions unchanged on Heathrow expansion
Residents of the Royal Borough of Windsor & Maidenhead have once again spoken out about a third runway at Heathrow airport, reaffirming the council’s ‘better not bigger’ mandate.
Over 1,000 residents were polled recently by telephone over a 10-day period and 50% said they support the building of a new runway at Gatwick. This is compared to 13% who said they oppose it and 34% who had no preference either way. Three percent said they did not know. This result echoes a poll run by the Royal Borough in January 2015.
The 2016 poll showed that 38% of residents oppose (includes strongly oppose or tend to oppose) a new runway at Heathrow compared to 34% that support it (strongly support or tend to support) and 38% are also opposed to extending the existing northern runway to the west compared to 32% that support it.
Cllr Carwyn Cox, cabinet member for environmental services, said: “This latest set of results reaffirms our position as a council that we are against a third runway at Heathrow. The council believes much more can be done to better mitigate the existing unacceptable impact to those residents currently overflown and we will continue to highlight this.
“We aim to make the strongest case possible against the Heathrow expansion plans, until a final decision has been made.”
Almost 58% of residents polled believe that the number of flights at Heathrow should remain the same as they are currently. This result also matched the 2015 survey.
The Royal Borough responded to the Airports Commission in February 2015 and submitted this opinion to government, as part of a partnership with the London Boroughs of Hillingdon, Richmond and Wandsworth (2M Group).
Cllr Simon Dudley, leader of the council, said: “In light of the recent change in political leadership, together with key events such as the outcome of the EU referendum, an additional poll of residents from all wards was undertaken to capture views towards airport expansion.
“This poll revealed a net 4%-6% opposition to options to expand Heathrow, compared to a net 37% support of Gatwick, as the preferred of the two locations put forward by the Airports Commission for expansion.”
