Let us be clear, we oppose any plans that will see more flights over Merton - and we have made our submission to the first of three consultations, which ended on 04 March 2019, confirming our stance.
In Merton we have many schools, hospitals, and elderly care homes which would be impacted by more noise from flights and more air pollution.
Furthermore, Wimbledon Village is a conservation area, and with others throughout Merton, the character of these areas would be damaged by more noise and pollution.
Merton generally avoids aircraft noise, depending on the prevailing wind, and does not experience any on the approach to Heathrow currently. An increase in flights over the area would therefore have a disproportionate impact.
We have already raised the concerns expressed to Heathrow Airport. In response they made three points.
• The figures provided with the design envelopes show the worst-case scenario. As well as consulting with the public Heathrow are also consulting with airlines on the angle of take-off and landings and would hope to make these much steeper.
• Flight paths will not cover the whole of the design envelopes – it is just showing areas in which they may be placed.
• With expansion as well as runway alternation there will also be airspace alternation – this means that when Heathrow are at a stage of designing flight paths they will be able to alternate between them so the same area is not always overflown.
We are now preparing our submission for the second consultation.