The government has launched a major public consultation on its updated plans for expanding Heathrow Airport. The Department for Transport has revised the old 2018 planning framework, renaming it the Heathrow Expansion National Policy Statement (HENPS). You need to respond to this by the end of August so that our village is given a voice in the planned airport expansion.
This document sets out the legal guidelines and strict rules that any builder must follow if they want to get approval for a third runway. It is crucial to note that this consultation does not grant immediate planning permission or greenlight construction yet; instead, it sets the ground rules for how a future planning application will be judged. For those of us living in the immediate vicinity of the airport, these rules will shape our local environment, noise levels, and transport links for decades to come.
In order to help you easily reply and make the case for our village here are suggested responses to the survey questions. In general we disagree with the document from a position that it needs to be stronger in protecting our village. In each response we state what is weak or missing and make a demand on what we need to protect our village. Copy and paste the responses to each question.
1. Assessment of the Need for Expansion
The Government’s assessment prioritises macro-economic projections while ignoring the local human costs borne by Stanwell Moor. Adding up to 260,000 extra Air Transport Movements (ATMs) annually will saturate our local airspace and road network. We need a comprehensive plan for the long-term health and residential viability of our village.
2. The Government’s ‘Four Tests’
Air Quality: The test only requiring that expansion does not “cause new breaches or make existing breaches worse” is too weak. The test must mandate local, independent monitoring stations inside Stanwell Moor.
- Noise: Benchmarking noise to a 2024 baseline using “average” noise metrics distorts the true impact of overhead low-altitude flights on our village. This test must mandate guaranteed, legally binding, and predictable runway alternation (respite periods).
- Climate Change Mitigation: Assessing net zero readiness on speculative national accounting fails to guarantee immediate localised environmental protections. A much more local approach is required.
- Economic Growth Across the Country: The test focuses heavily on national and regional growth while ignoring the economic damage inflicted onour village. A local economic plan is required that directly involves our village in a positive way that we benefit from the growth.
3. Deliverability, Effectiveness, and Proportionality of Environmental Mitigation
The proposed environmental mitigations set out in the HENPS are vague, non-binding, and favour the airport over community protection. Mitigations must carry statutory legal penalties, with real-time village monitoring.
4. Definition of the Scheduled Night Flight Ban
Defining a night flight ban based on “departure from or arrival to terminal” is unacceptable. The ban must cover actual airborne take-off and landing times between 11:00 PM and 06:00 AM without exception.
5. Designation as Critical National Growth Infrastructure (CNGI)
Designating the Northwest Runway as CNGI grants the project overriding planning priority. Critical levers are required to give weight to the health, property rights, and well-being of Stanwell Moor residents.
6. Fairness of Compensation for Affected Residents
The current compensation proposals are wholly inadequate for our village. A fair compensation framework must be legally binding and offer full unblighted market-value property guarantees plus a generous disturbance/relocation allowance for any resident wishing to leave, financial compensation and investment dedicated to protecting and enhancing Stanwell Moor’s local services and infrastructure.
7. Surface Access Requirements, Mode Share Targets, and Vision Document
The surface access proposals fail to protect our village from severe traffic overflow. The policy must mandate a legally enforceable “No Increase in Airport-Related Local Road Traffic” guarantee and enforced residential parking permit scheme across Stanwell Moor.
8. Updating the ‘Making Best Use’ (MBU) Policy
The MBU policy must explicitly prevent the airport from squeezing extra flight capacity out of existing runways without full, statutory environmental and health impact assessments.
9. Effectiveness of the Draft HENPS Decision-Making Framework
The draft HENPS framework prioritises airport expansion and commercial delivery over community safeguards. The questions of “need” must be restored.
10. Comments on Supporting Documents (AoS, HRA, EqIA, HIAn)
Health Impact Analysis (HIAn): it needs to mandate legally binding, enforceable health mitigation clauses for border villages.
Habitats Regulations Assessment (HRA) & EqIA: The mitigation framework needs to have immediate, guaranteed protections for affected residents.
11. Public Sector Equality Duty (PSED) Compliance
The draft HENPS fails to fulfil PSED obligations in practice. It needs to guarantee mandatory, local mitigation and compensation guarantees.
12. Additional Comments on the Draft HENPS
Stanwell Moor cannot be treated as a collateral sacrifice for airport expansion. The final HENPS must lock in independent, real-time air quality monitors within Stanwell Moor tied to capacity caps; a complete, legally binding ban on scheduled night flights (11:00 PM – 06:00 AM) based on airborne times; guaranteed, predictable runway alternation to secure daily periods of relief from aircraft noise; comprehensive, unblighted market-value compensation and full property protections; and a village-wide funded parking scheme. Without these statutory, hyper-local guarantees, the HENPS fails to protect the welfare, health, and future life of Stanwell Moor.