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Heathrow extension: residents of village facing demolition feel 'trapped' Heathrow extension: residents of villages facing demolition feel 'trapped'
(about 2 hours later)
Sitting in the garden of her Paws Boarding Cattery, Kathleen Croft pauses as another aircraft roars overhead. Standing in the shade of a 1,000-year-old yew tree at the front of St Mary's church in Harmondsworth, Ken Hughes says he knows how locals will react if the latest extension plans at Heathrow come to fruition.
"The reality is we are all trapped here now," says Croft as the deafening noise dies down. "Now this plan is on the table no one is able to move because who will want to buy a house here when the whole place could well be demolished?" "There will be uproar," the 61-year-old church warden says quietly. "People love this village and no one will give up what we have without a real fight."
Croft, 69, is interrupted by another deafening aircraft passing overhead – at this time of day she says they come every 45 or 90 seconds. The oldest part of St Mary's was built in 1067 and it sits in the middle of the village a few miles from Heathrow. On Wednesday airport authorities unveiled three proposals for a third runway, one of which would mean that St Mary's and a huge tithe barn next door would almost certainly be demolished along with hundreds of homes in Harmondsworth.
On Wednesday, airport authorities outlined three different options for a third runway – one of which would mean that her home and those of the 2,000 other residents of Stanwell Moor would be flattened. "This is a very special place," says Hughes as he gives a tour of the church and graveyard. "Although we are close to Heathrow it is really very quiet and peaceful and it is a functioning community. People know each other and look out for each other.."
"The reality is that I think we are going to get a third runway in the end but it looks unlikely that we will get a proper decision for years. People have lived here for 50, 60, even 70 years and this is incredibly traumatic for them. When politicians and Heathrow officials started talking about a third runway years ago, there were rumours it could mean the demolition of Harmondsworth. "There was a huge fight then, so if they go ahead now it will be the same," says Hughes. "People will do whatever it takes."
"One of the worst things is that they are not going to make any sort of decision on the runway until after 2015, so we are all left in this horrible limbo. And if they choose one of the other options then the village may survive but this noise is going to get even worse." Four miles away, Kathleen Croft sits in the garden of her cattery, Paws, in Stanwell Moor, as another aircraft roars overhead. Another option put forward on Wednesday would see her village demolished.
"The reality is we are all trapped here now," says Croft as the noise dies down. "Now this plan is on the table no one is able to move because who will want to buy a house here when the whole place could well be demolished?"
Croft, 69, is interrupted by another aircraft passing overhead – at this time of day, she says, they come every 45 or 90 seconds. "One of the worst things is that they are not going to make any sort of decision on the runway until after 2015, so we are all left in this horrible limbo."
Croft, chair of the local residents' association, has lived in Stanwell Moor for 44 years. Her carefully tended garden backs on to Heathrow's massive Terminal 5 and she says the noise, which sometimes starts as early as 4.20am, has become much worse in the past 10 years.Croft, chair of the local residents' association, has lived in Stanwell Moor for 44 years. Her carefully tended garden backs on to Heathrow's massive Terminal 5 and she says the noise, which sometimes starts as early as 4.20am, has become much worse in the past 10 years.
Rumours that the village could be demolished to make way for a third runway first emerged two months ago. In the Anchor pub, a few hundred metres from Croft's house, there is a weary resignation about Wednesday's announcement. "If they choose one of the other options then the village may survive but this noise is going to get even worse. All we want is for them to be honest with us and not keep us waiting for years and years – to treat us with a bit of respect basically."
"What are we going to do?" asks Susan Cameron, 52. "If they could make a decision and the compensation was right I would go for it. But we don't know what they are going to offer and it is going to drag on for years. We won't have any option but to sit here and wait and see what they decide." In the Anchor pub a few hundred metres from Croft's house, there is a weary resignation. "What are we going to do?" asks Susan Cameron, 52. "If they could make a decision and the compensation was right I would go for it. But we don't know what they are going to offer and it is going to drag on for years. We won't have any option but to sit here and wait and see what they decide."
William Larman, 80, is tending the flowers in his garden. He raises a hand to signal a pause to the start of a conversation as yet another plane passes above the rooftops. William Larman, 80, is tending the flowers in his garden. He raises a hand to signal a pause to the start of a conversation as yet another plane passes above the rooftops. "It's a sad business because a lot of people have lived here all their lives, you can't really compensate for that."
"It's a sad business because a lot of people have lived here all their lives, you can't really compensate for that." But he says there is one advantage of the slow decision-making process of politicians and airport authorities. "The way these things seem to work I am pretty confident that, whatever they decide, this is not going to happen in my lifetime."
But he said there was one advantage of the likely slow decision-making process of politicians and airport authorities. Back at St Mary's, Hughes is showing off the oldest part of the church and the list of priests who have served there. "What I don't really get is why anyone would want to destroy a place like this for, what, a runway at an airport. Surely anyone in their right mind is thinking about how we can reduce pollution but they want to build another runway here, upwind of London? It doesn't make a lot of sense to me."
"The way these things seem to work I am pretty confident that, whatever they decide, this is not going to happen in my lifetime."