Our ancient village will be flattened by Heathrow’s third runway but we still SUPPORT Reeves’ plan… just get it done
But campaigners said the expansion could 'smash our community'
RESIDENTS of a village which could be partially demolished to make way for a third runway at Heathrow Airport have backed the plans.
Hundreds of homes could be demolished in the West London villages of Harmondsworth and Longford if the expansion gets the green light.
The airport wants to build a third runway to raise capacity and boost resilience.
In a speech on Wednesday, Chancellor of the Exchequer Rachel Reeves highlighted the scheme among a throng of major projects she said the Government would support.
Ms Reeves later said she wanted to see the expansion completed by 2035 and added the whole Cabinet is “united” behind the plan.
Ashley Price owns and plumbing business and is from generations of Harmondsworth villagers.
He and his parents “welcomed the news” of their home being demolished.
He told : “I feel good. Knock it down. My parents are retired and this has been in the works for two decades of my life.
“Just get it done.”
But campaigners said the expansion could “smash our community”.
Richard Young is the vicar at the St Mary the Virgin church in Harmondsworth.
He said the plans “cut very deeply” for residents living in what he described as a “tight-knit community”.
He added: “If it went ahead, it would have a devastating effect on the place. The vast majority of it would disappear.
“The church would stay but the community around it would go.
“(The plans) have been talked about for decades and has been a blight hanging over everyone’s heads.
“People can’t move because no one wants to buy their homes. People love living here. It’s their home.
OPINION: Sir Keir Starmer is driving brickies to breaking point
By RICHARD TICE, Reform MP and LEE ANDERSON, Reform MP
For all his talk about being the son of a toolmaker, Sir Keir Starmer couldn’t tell a screwdriver from a spanner. The bloke hasn’t got a clue how the construction industry works.
This week, you heard the government’s big plan—1.5 million homes and even a third runway at Heathrow. It might sound great, but Labour’s policies are driving the very workers we need into the ground.
Britain urgently needs more homes, hospitals, schools, and roads. Yet instead of equipping workers with shovels and tools, the PM has handed them pencils and clipboards.
In Sir Keir’s reckless race to climate targets, the construction industry is drowning in skyrocketing costs and endless red tape. The result? Job losses, delayed projects, and a construction industry crumbling under the weight of its own regulations.
Meanwhile, Rachel Reeves – Labour’s resident maths wizard – thinks hiking employer National Insurance is a great idea. Because nothing screams “economic growth” like strangling family-run businesses. These firms, the backbone of Britain’s construction industry, are being crushed under Labour’s anti-growth agenda.
And the workforce? It’s vanishing faster than new houses are appearing. Over the past five years, UK construction has lost 70,000 workers annually, with the average age of those remaining now over 50. Apprenticeship starts have averaged just 31,000 per year, with nearly half dropping out.
If ‘Rachel from Accounts’ did the maths, she’d see this adds up to a net loss of 50,000 people leaving the jobs market every year. Yet Sir Keir expects these dwindling ranks to deliver his Soviet-style building targets. It’s laughable.
Industry leaders like Steve Mulholland of the Construction Plant-hire Association have warned the PM his policies are hammering the sector. But Sir Keir thinks he knows best.
His forensic expertise has already left pensioners freezing at Christmas and farmers blockading his front door. Now, Britain’s builders are next in line for his dose of wisdom.
Labour’s solution? Import more workers. Why bother training Brits when you can call for a quick fix from overseas? At this rate, we’ll have more brickies arriving at Heathrow than passengers on Starmer’s third runway.
As the benefits bill balloons and borrowing hits record levels, Labour continues to prioritise the workshy over the hardworking like they always have done. This madness has to stop.
At Reform UK, we believe blue-collar workers are the backbone of this country. They should be cherished, not punished. And for too long, our education system has funnelled teenagers into pointless degrees that saddle them with lifelong debts and no real job prospects.
Keir Starmer’s promises might look good on paper, but they’re as flimsy as the clipboard he’s handed Britain’s builders.
If this government is serious about growth, it needs to trade soundbites for real blueprints and start listening to those who actually know which end of a hammer to hold.
If not, Britain’s building dream will collapse faster than Jeremy Corbyn’s allotment shed in a storm.
“There’s anxiety, fear and anger. But there’s also tension because some people hold different views.”
Justine Bayley, who lives in Harmondsworth and is chairwoman of the Stop Heathrow Expansion group, said the scheme risked wiping most of the village.
She said: “It’s inevitable that demolishing hundreds of homes will smash up a community.
“We have two pubs and two shops that would become unviable because of a lack of customers.
“There’s a bus route that would have to disappear because there’s a runway in the way.
“You’d end up with people being left behind … (but) the community would be gone.”
Ms Bayley, who has lived in the village for 30 years, said her home would not be demolished but would be roughly “50 paces” from the boundary of the new runway.
She added: “There is some disbelief that it will actually go ahead.
“It’s not the first time we’ve been here and this is the last in a series of proposals.
“There are many different views in the village and some, particularly those who can’t sell their houses at the moment, are just wanting clarity.
“Some people think any decision is better than no decision.”
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