What's happening at Heathrow?
August 24th 2007 08:55
Tranquil environment in St James Park
Heathrow is always a clamour of discordant noise. There’s a continual clang of metal and a rattle of pneumatic drills as the bits of the old place are reduced to dust and new ones pulled from the rubble. There’s a perpetual rumble of traffic, underscored with the whine and blast of jet engines. There are intermittent echoing, humanoid voices, screeching mothers and bawling children. There’s the constant clip of hurrying feet.
Last weekend, 250 placard-waving protesters added their voices to the din. Moved by Heathrow’s plans to build its fifth terminal and its third runway, they set up a village of tents called Camp Climate Change in a field belonging to the London’s Imperial College on the airport’s north-west border. They were attended by a heavy police presence and strong warnings from Downing Street about disruption of airport activity. But into the microphones of the hovering omni-present BBC, the campers hotly denied any intention of disrupting services and upsetting travelers’ plans. They simply aim to draw attention to the impact of airports and air-travel on climate and environment and to open debate about Heathrow’s next giant bite into the surrounding landscape.
Against a backdrop of scaffolding and screened-off construction, battling background jackhammers and engines, a Heathrow spokesperson reassuringly listed proposed “responsible” measures to reduce its carbon footprint and waved away the interviewer’s concerns.
But a resident of a nearby village about to be ground under Heathrow’s heel in its next giant step, wasn’t convinced by either. When asked what she thought about carbon emissions, environment and climate, she said “It’s going to take our homes and our community!” Nor did the holiday-makers, heading off to Majorca, seem to be interested in joining the debate. They just wanted cheaper air-fares, shorter queues and bigger hand-luggage allowances.
Can Camp Climate Change accomplish its mission, or is it a lost cause?
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