"Hidden" Plans for two new Terminals at Heathrow.

By Jonathon Carr-Brown

The Sunday Times

13th October 2002

PROPOSALS to build two new terminals at Heathrow are being considered
as part of plans to increase the airport's capacity, government
documents have revealed, writes Jonathon Carr-Brown.

The terminals would be in addition to the planned terminal 5, which
was given the go-ahead last year after a four-year planning inquiry.
Local residents accuse the transport department of trying to conceal
plans for the new building work. The plans do not appear on the
government website or in public consultation documents outlining
proposals to build a new runway at the airport, released in July.

The new documents - buried in an obscure appendix of a separate report
- show plans are advanced to create two more terminals, including one
for transit passengers.

Campaigners against the airport's expansion claim the disclosure shows
that the consultation over the new runway is a sham and that hundreds
of homeowners, who could have their houses demolished, are being
misled about the scale of the plans.

Paul de Zylva, aviation spokesman for Friends of the Earth, said:
"This is not a proper consultation. People could be forgiven for
thinking the government was trying to pull the wool over their eyes."

Heathrow campaigners became suspicious two weeks ago when Mike
Hodgkinson, the chief executive of BAA, which runs Britain's main
airports, told residents' meetings that "additional facilities" would
be needed if a third runway was built.

The campaigners say that, when pressed, Hodgkinson said a sixth
terminal would be required and referred to the government's
consultation process. Despite searches, the only reference found in
the main transport department consultation document was a paragraph
talking about extra terminal capacity being provided by
"reconfiguring" terminals 1, 2 and 3 and space to the south of the
airport.

Further investigations led to the discovery of maps and diagrams
produced by Halcrow, the government's consultants. These show that a
new runway would lead to the £1.6billion redevelopment of terminals 1,
2 and 3, the doubling in size of terminal 4 to create a new terminal,
and the building of another new one for transit passengers. The
estimated cost would be £550m.

"This has massive implications for hundreds of homeowners sandwiched
between the proposed new runway and the old one," said John Stewart of
the Heathrow Association for the Control of Aircraft Noise. "Any
properties not knocked down will be blighted for ever."

A BAA spokesman said: "If a third runway was built it would require
additional facilities." Asked whether that meant a sixth terminal, he
said: "That question is part of our considerations but we have never
used the term 'sixth terminal'."

The transport department said: "If Heathrow is given permission to
build a new runway it will be up to them to come up with detailed
plans." The need for new terminal facilities will be acute if a new
runway is built. It could lead to an increase of almost 50% in flight
numbers, from 461,000 to 688,000 a year by 2030. Passenger numbers
would rise from 64m to 130m.