Will VAT on jet fuel fly?  New runways at Stansted and Heathrow come with a sting in the tail for airlines. They are to face heavy penalties for environmental damage. So far, investors have paid little attention to the danger that the airlines could be facing a huge bill, either through increased airport duties or even new taxes on aviation fuel. But in recent weeks there have been a few clues. Two weeks ago, Alistair Darling, the secretary of state for transport, raised eyebrows by admitting that he was in discussion with foreign governments in an attempt to persuade them to impose VAT on aviation fuel.
Source: The Telegraph

BAA call meeting with Longford residents.  The T5 Community Liaison Office are inviting Longford residents to a meeting following on from a previous discussion on the flood alleviation scheme for Longford. This meeting also will give the chance to discuss the Twin Rivers Diversion Scheme and any other T5 related concerns. The meeting will be held on 10th March at 6.30pm in the Thistle Hotel.
 

Legal challenge to the aviation white paper. It is now fully expected that a legal challenge to the Government's aviation white paper by means of a Judicial Review will be launched in the next few weeks. There will be more on this subject on this website at the time.

Pyjama protest over night flights.   Campaigners against night flying are holding a "sleep-in" protest to show how many hours of sleep they lose. The demonstration took place on Friday outside a London hotel where a government forum on flights at Gatwick, Heathrow and Stansted was being held. Earlier this year, the government decided to extend the existing night flying restrictions at Gatwick, Heathrow and Stansted until 2005.
Source: BBC News

Margaret Cassidy House.   The renewed planning application which proposes changing Margaret Cassidy House from a hostel to a hotel including extending the building and adding a further floor has been added to the UK Planning website.  There does not seem to be much difference (if any) between this application and the one rejected by Hillingdon Council in January of this year.  Why do they bother? 
Previous about Margaret Cassidy House

Another broken promise Darling?  Senior Department of Transport officials, underneath Alistair Darling's control, have told the Heathrow Consultative Committee that the introduction of mixed-mode would require a change to the 480,000 limit on flights - promising noise misery for residents under the flight path, it was revealed this week. Official Paul Reardon's comment were re-enforced by Heathrow's General Manager, Janis Kong, who admitted she was duty-bound to look at mixed-mode and to lifting the 480,000 limit.
Source: Local London (Hyperlink now missing)

NoTRAG seek Longford input.  The Residents' Association has been asked by NoTRAG to become involved at committee level with their organisation.  Longford often assists in events and publicity for NoTRAG but has only played a limited role at committee level for the past 12 months.  If any village residents would care to play a part in the continuing fight against airport expansion at Heathrow Airport, please email their website by clicking this link.
 

Longford Residents' Association committee meeting.  A roundup of the matters discussed at the committee meeting on 12th February follows.

Committee membership – The committee are still actively seeking new members to become involved in the Longford Residents’ Association.  Please contact 07003 921548 if you would like to become involved in the future of the village.

Parking Consultation – It was noted that the village had voted for a Controlled Parking Zone in the recent consultation.  The Association are to seek an implementation date from the council and to continue to push for meaningful implementation of whatever parking restrictions are provided.

Planning – The current application submitted to the council in respect of Weekly’s Barn was discussed.  The committee continue to be concerned about parking and the generation of traffic associated with this proposed development.

Sale of Houses – The committee discussed the continuing sale of properties in the village to potential developers.

Air Pollution – Concern was raised over air quality in the area in January and the future situation when the Colnbrook incinerator comes into use.  The committee will liaise with the London Borough of Hillingdon over air quality matters.

Heathrow Airport – The most recent meeting of the Local Focus Forum was discussed.  Frustration was expressed at the poor attitude displayed by Janis Kong (Heathrow Airport Limited) towards those representatives from local residents’ groups who give up their own free time to get involved.  Ms Kong seems to feel that their contribution is somehow worth less than that of BAA’s salaried employees.

Harmondsworth & Longford Community Hall – The committee was informed that Harmondsworth School would hold the lease on the building but that a committee drawn both from the school and the local community will run it.  Already, the school has mentioned some plans for the building and the committee discussed those.

Chrysalis 2003/04 – The committee are concerned at the late installation of the play equipment funded under this year’s Chrysalis scheme.

Hillingdon Community Trust – The committee has agreed in principle to apply for a small grant from the Trust to pay for the running of the village website for another two years.

The Island – Residents from The Island have approached the Association requesting support in obtaining funding for the resurfacing of their road/driveway.  The committee has agreed to make enquiries with both the Chrysalis Fund and Hillingdon Community Trust.

Notification of Works.  BAA have issued a notification of works in regards to works they will be carrying out near Kings Bridge, Longford.  This will involve removing the bridge that currently sits over the old Longford River channel on the perimeter road and is expected to last two weeks commencing at the end of next week.  This work is expected to be noisy and will only take place between the agreed core working hours.
 

Another planning application for Margaret Cassidy House?  The Association have received a letter notifying that another planning application has been submitted in respect of Margaret Cassidy House.  So far, this has not surfaced on the UK Planning website.  Once it does, a link will be provided.

New doubt cast on Heathrow expansion.  Controversial plans for a new runway at Heathrow airport have been thrown into fresh doubt by a government study which concludes that the only way to meet European pollution laws would be to enclose the nearby M4 motorway in a tunnel.
Source: The Guardian
 

Heathrow drivers may pay over the odds to go underground. The new Heathrow runway proposed by the Government can be built only if passengers are charged £20 to drive to the airport and the M4 is buried in a five-mile tunnel, according to a Department for Transport study. The toll and the tunnel are essential if the expanded airport is to be kept within European Union limits on nitrogen oxide emissions. The southern runway would also have to be extended almost a mile to the east.
Source: The Times (See also:  BBC News, The Telegraph, Evening Standard)

Beware of this mobile phone scam.  A village resident has received the following information via the police hotline about a mobile scam. If you get a missed call message and it shows the number 0709 020 3840 (the 0709 is the significant part), don't call it back. You'll be charged at £50 per minute.

Too many non-emergency calls.  Hillingdon residents are being encouraged to contact their local police number instead of 999 for all non-emergency situations. Inspector Carl Widdison said: "Inappropriate use of the 999 service causes delay to genuine emergency calls and it results in extra pressure on police resources. In situations such as a stolen bike, vandalised car, lost credit cards or mobile phones we are asking people to take a few seconds to ask themselves 'do I require an immediate police response?'. If the answer is no or probably not and they contact their local borough, they could be helping officers to respond quicker to emergency situations." The numbers to call are below:

Emergencies only (Crime happening now or immediate danger): 999

Community Officers:
Uxbridge, 020 8246 1415
Hayes, 020 8246 1617
Ruislip, 020 8246 1818
West Drayton, 020 8246 1763

Crimestoppers, anonymously: 0800 555 111

Neighbourhood Watch Office: 020 8246 1869

Uxbridge Control Room: 01895 251212

Community Advice Line: (for general non-urgent police advice) 020 8246 1501

London Borough of Hillingdon customer contact centre (deals with abandoned vehicles, fly tipping, street lighting, parks, etc): 01895 55600.

Minutes of the Heathrow Local Focus Forum.  The minutes of the meeting held on 20th January 2004 are now available by clicking on this link.

Landscaping work is underway!  As promised last week, here is a photo of the work being carried out in the vicinity of the village notice board.  The work extends down the length of the neighbouring property and down to the newly aligned Duke of Northumberland's River as well as behind those properties on the south side of Bath Road.  BAA have confirmed that this landscaping work is part of the Twin Rivers Diversion Scheme and will involve landscaping and the planting of trees native to the Colne Valley.
 

11% of T5 workers on drugs. In a short article in this week's Uxbridge & West Drayton Gazette, it is revealed that more than one in 10 construction workers on the T5 project are under the influence of drugs or alcohol. In tests, 11% of workers tested positive to recreational drugs and one per cent to alcohol. These results are an improvement on 2002 figures when 20% tested positive. BAA have stated that they operate a zero tolerance policy to drugs and alcohol and that those who test positive are removed from the project.

Weekly Barn: Planning Application.  The planning application we were advised about last week has now appeared on the UK Planning website.  The plan has been submitted by Arora Developments Ltd to convert the barn into a restaurant which will involve adding two single storey extensions to the rear of the property.  The Residents' Association has sought further information from the council planning department before committing itself to a position in relation to this application.
Source: UK Planning

Five men held after £1.75m Heathrow raid.  Five men were arrested in London and the home counties yesterday in connection with a £1.75m armed raid at a Heathrow airport cargo warehouse. Police were still searching last night for three further suspects. The robbers fired a shot at a worker who tried to escape. A second shot was fired as one of the attackers struggled to drag the man back inside the warehouse. None of the workers was seriously injured in the raid.
Source: The Times, BBC News

Longford news 1.  The land near the village notice board has been cleared in the past few days.  This land belongs to BAA and it is believed that, after many months of prodding, that they are finally tidying it up to stop it being the eyesore that it had become.  We hope to have some photos for the site soon.
Photo now available here
 

Longford news 2.  It is believed that a planning application has been submitted for the barn next to the Kings Arms pub.  This building is not part of the pub and is owned by a developer well known to Longford village.  The last application that was submitted was to convert it into a restaurant.  It is not yet known what the current plan is or who has submitted it and the application has yet to appear on the UK Planning website.  Once further details are known, they will be published on this website.
Update to this story

Further news about the Longford play park.  The Longford Residents' Association has today received a call from Ian Geddes of the London Borough of Hillingdon regarding Longford play park.  He has assured the Association that the work will start on March 1st ending on March 22nd. It is hard to know if this should be believed as the council have given us many dates already in the past financial year and still no work has begun.  The Association has asked Mr Geddes to put this information in writing along with an assurance that the money committed to the Heathrow Village projects will not be lost if the work has not commenced by April 1st.

T5 workers raise £1000 for young people of Longford.  A donation of £1000 has been raised by the Sports and Social Committee of Terminal 5 and has been used to buy park benches and picnic tables for young children.  The Sports and Social Committee also had the tables delivered and installed in the park in Heathrow Close.  The new benches will benefit local children and children from the Young Flyers Nursery in Longford Village.  Kelly Dundavan, Chair of Longford resident association said: "The new picnic tables will enhance the area and will give more facilities to our local parents and children as well as attracting more families to use the park now that it has a picnic area."
Source: BAA

BAA profits fly in the face of Euro rules.  Airport operator BAA's £1.54bn increase in revenue (3.5%), announced today, has been unfairly funded by UK tax payers via the European Investment Bank (EIB), according to a coalition of 21 environmental and social justice organisations.  The coalition which includes the London School of Economics, the Hillingdon Law centre, Friends of the Earth, MEPs and respected academics has written to the European Investment Bank calling on it to stop financing the UK's massive airport expansion plans which breach its own investment and environmental policies.
Source: Friends of the Earth

More jobs to go at BA.  Thousands of people are likely to be made redundant by British Airways, with the majority of job losses at the company's head office, near Longford.  BA has not said how many jobs will be affected, but it is expected that managers and administration staff will be the first to go, mainly through voluntary redundancy, natural wastage and staff going part-time.
Source: LocalLondon

Airport fight launched.  Wandsworth Council has backed a joint legal challenge against the Government's airport expansion plans published last month.  Council leader Edward Lister said the failure to consult on all the options relating to Heathrow left it open to legal challenge.  "This debate has been presented as being about whether or not Heathrow should have a new third runway. By appearing to put its introduction off to 2015 ministers must have hoped the public would be lulled into a false sense of security. We were never told that ending runway alteration and removing night flight movement limits were being considered as interim measures for boosting capacity."
Source: Wandsworth Guardian
 

Property marking.  Marking your possessions with your postcode plus your house or flat number (or the first two letters of your house name) provides a simple and unique way of identifying your property and is one of the best deterrents to a burglar.  There are several ways to mark your property depending on the object you want to mark.  You can get easy to use property marking kits from stationers and DIY stores. Ultra violet pens, etchers and engravers are not expensive.  Items that cannot be marked (jewellery etc) should be photographed.  If you would like a leaflet about Property Marking and some "Burglars Beware our property is post coded" stickers then please email the Police Neighbourhood Watch Coordinator on Eve@hillingdonnhw.co.uk or telephone 020 8246 1869 with your name and address and they will be posted out to you.  If you would like advice on home security or to arrange an officer to visit your home and carry out a Home Security Survey - free of charge, please contact one of the Crime Prevention Officers at West Drayton on 020 8246 1778 or 020 8246 1769.
 

Aircraft Noise - who to contact.  The people at BAA have asked this website to remind our readers of the Flight Evaluation Office Freephone Number and E-mail address.  These may be used for requests for information as well as complaints relating to airport noise issues (other than Terminal 5 of course).  The number is 0800 344 844 and the E-Mail is noise_complaints@baa.com.

BA wants compensation over snow.  British Airways says it is seeking £1m in compensation from airports operator BAA for failing to keep Heathrow open during Wednesday night's snow.
Source: BBC News
 

Runway change causes outrage.  Hillingdon could become the noise capital of the world thanks to the Government's plans to end runway alternation at Heathrow.
Source: LocalLondon
 

The search is on for the UK's noisiest home!  Noise Pollution Officers and local authorities are searching for noisy homes to be considered for the title of 'The UK's Noisiest Home'.  The winning house will have the latest sound reducing window and door technology fitted to enhance the quality of life for its occupants.  If you would like to be considered, please contact Mike Rickaby from the council's Environmental Protection Unit on 01895 277126.
Source: Noise Abatement Society

Heathrow record claim withdrawn.  BAA admit their figures were wrong and that passenger numbers have still not recovered from 9/11.
Source: The Times

Work delay holds off travel chaos.  Chaos predicted on the roads around Heathrow failed to materialise last week as the roadworks got underway on the M25.
Source: LocalLondon
 

Mayor denies road charge proposal.  Mayor of London Ken Livingstone has strongly denied claims that he wants to extend the congestion charge to Hillingdon.  He said: "These stories are totally untrue. I have no proposal to extend the congestion charge to the whole of London, nor to the suburbs. I have never even discussed such proposals."
Source: LocalLondon

Hillingdon moves up the recycling league table.  In figures released yesterday, the London Borough of Hillingdon has moved from 7th to 3rd best in London for the percentage of waste which is recycled.
Source: Letsrecycle.com

Grundon wins approval for Colnbrook incinerator.  Grundon Waste Management has now received a Pollution Prevention and Control (PPC) permit for a 400,000 tonne plant at Colnbrook, near Slough. The last hurdle before development, the permit means Grundon can now find contractors to build and operate the £120 million incinerator, which is expected to be up and running by late 2006.
Source: Letsrecycle.com

Council investigates Heathrow judicial review.  Grounds for judicial review are being investigated urgently by Hillingdon Council over the new runway planned for Heathrow. At a meeting of the cabinet, just two days after the decision was made, cabinet members pledged to investigate every avenue to stop the planned expansion.
Source: Local London
 

Longford parking.  Although yet to be confirmed, the word from the London Borough of Hillingdon is that the result of the parking consultation is that Longford will be getting a Controlled Parking Zone.  We will confirm that as soon as possible and push for a breakdown of the way the vote was split.

M25 road works - delays expected for 2 years!  The road works to widen the M25 motorway and to provide public vehicle access to Terminal 5 at Heathrow Airport begin today.  Delays are expected to last for two years.
Source: BBC News
 

BAA - Longford's Bad Neighbour - the continuing story.  The following information has just been received by the webmaster.  

On the 31st December, aircraft were taking off from the Longford end.  This usually does not happen due to the Cranford Agreement.  When a phone call was made to the Duty Officer, the caller was told Longford was lucky to still be here!

It seems they had problems with the ILS (equipment that guides and assists landing aircraft) and the planes were coming in off beam.  It took six aircraft to land this way before they decided to stop them and then swapping runways for landings to take place on the southern runway and take-offs on the northern.

The Residents' Association received a call from the person who had contacted the Duty Officer on 1st January.  We were told that there had been a problem and a calibration aircraft would go up that night to check what was wrong.  On 2nd January, aircraft were once again taking off from the Longford end.  This time the Residents' Association called  the Duty Officer and were told they had found a problem with the ILS and an investigation was taking place and the CAA would make a report.  The Residents' Association has requested a copy of this report when available.

Why, when the lady called, did the Duty Officer use scare tactics?  He told her that Longford would have been in real trouble if the beam had been just a little more off.

Why did it take six aircraft to land in this danger before taking action?

Why do BAA not contact the local residents' associations with proper information when these sort of things happen?

More examples of BAA being a bad neighbour to Longford.

Margaret Cassidy House.  The decision by the planning committee regarding the proposed hotel development at Margaret Cassidy House, Bath Road, Longford has come through in the past few days.  The committee have refused permission for the development for reasons involved with parking and the effect on the flow of traffic through the village.