Heathrow campaign to encourage 'silent majority' to back expansion

 
Matthew Beard11 September 2013

Heathrow airport is spending thousands of pounds on a “grassroots” campaign to build support for a third runway.

Half a million newsletters will be sent to west London homes in the first move by the campaign group Back Heathrow. Campaign director Rob Gray said his group wanted to give a voice to the “silent majority” of locals who oppose it being shut down under plans by Mayor Boris Johnson.

But anti-Heathrow expansion group Hacan said its formation was “the actions of a desperate organisation, not confident of the arguments it is making”. Heathrow cites local support showing in its own poll that 46 per cent support expanding the airport with 43 per cent opposed.

But Hacan claim the poll was “out of kilter” with previous surveys, including the largest of its kind which showed more than 70 per cent of people in Richmond, Hillingdon and Hounslow against expansion.

Sir Howard Davies’s aviation commission is currently consulting on the submissions to boost capacity in the South-East. He will publish his findings in December.

Mr Gray said: “For too long, the local residents who support Heathrow have been the silent majority in the debate on the airport’s future. I am delighted to be joining a campaign to give a voice to the many thousands of local residents who back Heathrow and whose businesses and jobs depend on the future of the airport.”

Heathrow director of corporate affairs, Clare Harbord, said: “114,000 jobs will be lost to the local community forever if Heathrow were forced to close.”

However, Hacan chairman John Stewart said: “We take it as a compliment to our success in stopping expansion last time round that Heathrow feels the need to spend their money in this way.”

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