Hillingdon Council Leader and colleagues in the 2M Group have met with the European Commission to discuss the UK government's plans to circumvent air quality targets at Heathrow, after Transport Secretary Ruth Kelly announced that a decision on the expansion will be delayed until later in the year.

Hillingdon, which is home to Heathrow, and the other 2M authorities have long opposed the expansion which threatens more than 700 homes locally and could include an extra 60,000 flights a year at the two existing runways before adding a third at a later time.


Reacting to the announcement that a decision on Heathrow will be delayed to allow assessment of some 70,000 responses, Deputy Leader of Hillingdon Council Cllr David Simmonds said: "There is overwhelming opposition to expansion at Heathrow and, along with other councils in the 2M Group, we have been campaigning for some time to ensure that people make their opinions known - Hillingdon stands to loose more than 700 homes and the impact is much greater when all the boroughs are taken in to consideration. Enough is enough. We hope the extra time taken to assess the results will find what we all already know - there is no viable case for further expansion at Heathrow."

(CD/JM)