Free Republic
Browse · Search
News/Activism
Topics · Post Article

Skip to comments.

Despair of village doomed by bigger Heathrow
Evening Standard ^ | 12.01.2009 | Neil Millard

Posted on 01/13/2009 8:59:33 PM PST by Paleo Conservative

RESIDENTS in a village that would be demolished to make way for a third Heathrow runway fear time has run out in their battle against the bulldozers.

Sipson, which is already overshadowed by Britain's biggest airport, will be wiped off the map if the Government approves the expansion plan.

The decision is only days away, but the people who live in Sipson's 700 homes are resigned to losing their fight.

Mark Bridle, 38, a carpenter, said: "It seems like Gordon Brown is going to say yes to the runway, but people are never going to give up. I don't think people here have been treated very well. They have been left on tenterhooks.

"The Government is destroying a village. The airport is in the wrong place and it's growing. They won't ever be satisfied. They will want a fourth runway, I'm sure."

Campaigner Lynne Davies, 60, a retired florist, said: "I have lived in Sipson for 50 years. My brother-in-law built my house and now we have a Spanish company coming in with compulsory purchase and offering us peanuts.

"They have only offered us market value, moving costs and 10 per cent commission when they get planning permission. That's not a good deal. I don't want somebody telling me what to do.

"And environmentally it's not good for anybody. We have got the Government telling us to cut our emissions and then in the next breath they want to throw it out of the window."

Andrew O'Connell, 45, a British Airways coach driver, said: "I'm surprised it's come this quickly - I thought it would be 10 to 15 years away. It's going to destroy a lot of people and a lot of older people who live in this village.

"I will be gutted when it goes. It will be heartbreaking. I don't know where to move to, I love it here. The Government is messing about with people's lives. They should expand Stansted or Gatwick instead. They have a lot more land there.

Bryan Sobey, 79, a retired customs officer and member of No Third Runway Action Group, said: "Destroying this town is outrageous. It means my house is where a future Terminal Six will be. I will be evicted from my home. But I'm not sure it's a done deal, not quite so sure as I was a little time ago.

"I thought the Government would lose too much face if they backed off but they have a little bit of a rebellion in their own ranks."

Kitty Seccombe, 79, a retired B&B manager, said: "A third runway will kill me. I've got deterioration of the spine, osteoarthritis, osteoporosis, arthritis and irritable bowel syndrome and I'm all on my own. Even if I wanted to move I wouldn't get another home of the same standard with the money they are giving us. They will have to bulldoze the house with me in it."

Shaun Walters, 45, landlord of the 400-year-old King William IV pub, said: "There should be progress, but not at the expense of people's homes. They can take my pub and rebuild it somewhere else - that's no problem.

"It's not the bricks and mortar, it's the people in them. It's a community."


TOPICS: Business/Economy; Government; News/Current Events; United Kingdom
KEYWORDS: aerospace; heathrow; lhr
Here are some more articles in publications that required excerpts.

Celebs Buy Runway Expansion Land
http://news.sky.com/skynews/Home/UK-News/Heathrow-Third-Runway-Emma-Thompson-And-Alistair-McGowan-Buy-Plot-Of-Land-To-Disrupt-Runway-Plans/Article/200901215202274?lpos=UK_News_Third_UK_News_Article_Teaser_Region__2&lid=ARTICLE_15202274_Heathrow_Third_Runway%3A_Emma_Thompson_And_Alistair_McGowan_Buy_Plot_Of_Land_To_Disrupt_Runway_Plans


Coalition led by Greenpeace buys land earmarked for Heathrow
http://www.theherald.co.uk/news/news/display.var.2481491.0.Coalition_led_by_Greenpeace_buys_land_earmarked_for_Heathrow_runway.php


1 posted on 01/13/2009 8:59:34 PM PST by Paleo Conservative
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | View Replies]

To: microgood; liberallarry; cmsgop; shaggy eel; RayChuang88; Larry Lucido; namsman; jpsb; decimon; ...

Looming: Sipson village will disappear if Heathrow’s third runway gets the

If you want on or off this aerospace ping list, please contact Paleo Conservative or phantomworker by Freep mail.


2 posted on 01/13/2009 9:02:55 PM PST by Paleo Conservative
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: Paleo Conservative

Idlewild (JFK) and Newark were built in swampland, which allowed them to serve a densely populated area. I seem to recall the area around Heathrow as being quite built up and suburban (unlike Gatwick, which has cows walking right next to the runway fence).


3 posted on 01/13/2009 9:06:24 PM PST by Clemenza (Red is the Color of Virility, Blue is the Color of Impotence)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 2 | View Replies]

To: Clemenza
Idlewild (JFK) and Newark were built in swampland, which allowed them to serve a densely populated area.

Try getting a permit to build on swampland uhm wetlands nowadays.

4 posted on 01/13/2009 9:16:43 PM PST by Paleo Conservative
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 3 | View Replies]

To: Paleo Conservative

Governor Broward would not be allowed to drain Florida south of Lake Okeechobee today.


5 posted on 01/13/2009 9:25:52 PM PST by Clemenza (Red is the Color of Virility, Blue is the Color of Impotence)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 4 | View Replies]

To: Paleo Conservative
Who writes these headlines?

Despair of village doomed by bigger Heathrow

Does this mean that the village is no longer despairing because Heathrow is expanding? And how does a village despair? Shouldn't it be the villagers who are despairing? On not despairing, according to the headline...

Mark

6 posted on 01/13/2009 9:26:56 PM PST by MarkL (Do I really look like a guy with a plan?)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: Clemenza
Governor Broward would not be allowed to drain Florida south of Lake Okeechobee today.

Well isn't Lake Okeechobee going to be restored to a higher level in the next few years? Why not reclaim the wetlands at Jamaica Bay. While they're at it why not demolish the O'Shaughnessy Dam that traps water in the Hetch Hetchy reservoir that supplies water to San Francisco?

7 posted on 01/13/2009 9:34:55 PM PST by Paleo Conservative
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 5 | View Replies]

To: Clemenza

So was Philadelphia’s airport. Hog Island? Used to be a shipyard.


8 posted on 01/13/2009 10:41:01 PM PST by Carl from Marietta
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 3 | View Replies]

To: MarkL; Lazamataz

Despair is doomed!!!!


9 posted on 01/14/2009 5:33:56 AM PST by Larry Lucido (I was predestined to be an Arminian but am considering choosing Calvinism.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 6 | View Replies]

To: MarkL
"And how does a village despair? Shouldn't it be the villagers who are despairing?"

Good point.

Sorta like the reports from the MSM when they say "The White House says".

10 posted on 01/14/2009 7:59:32 AM PST by AGreatPer (Obama is not my president until we see his birth certificate. A real one.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 6 | View Replies]

To: Larry Lucido
Despair is doomed!!!!

Depression is bummed out.

11 posted on 01/14/2009 8:40:38 AM PST by Lazamataz (Illegal Zombies: Just Eating the Brains that Ordinary Americans Won't Eat)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 9 | View Replies]

To: Larry Lucido

BTW, someone mooned me, and I told him that he Bums me out.


12 posted on 01/14/2009 8:41:13 AM PST by Lazamataz (Illegal Zombies: Just Eating the Brains that Ordinary Americans Won't Eat)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 9 | View Replies]

To: Larry Lucido

BTW, someone mooned me, and I told him that he Bums me out.


13 posted on 01/14/2009 8:41:18 AM PST by Lazamataz (Illegal Zombies: Just Eating the Brains that Ordinary Americans Won't Eat)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 9 | View Replies]

To: Larry Lucido

BTW, someone mooned me, and I told him that he Bums me out.


14 posted on 01/14/2009 8:41:26 AM PST by Lazamataz (Illegal Zombies: Just Eating the Brains that Ordinary Americans Won't Eat)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 9 | View Replies]

To: Lazamataz

Must have been a “moonage a trois.”


15 posted on 01/14/2009 10:52:41 AM PST by Larry Lucido (I was predestined to be an Arminian but am considering choosing Calvinism.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 14 | View Replies]

To: Larry Lucido
I'll get you for that.

And your little dog, too.

16 posted on 01/14/2009 10:57:13 AM PST by Lazamataz (Illegal Zombies: Just Eating the Brains that Ordinary Americans Won't Eat)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 15 | View Replies]

Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.

Free Republic
Browse · Search
News/Activism
Topics · Post Article

FreeRepublic, LLC, PO BOX 9771, FRESNO, CA 93794
FreeRepublic.com is powered by software copyright 2000-2008 John Robinson