MP’s REPORT TO 

RESIDENTS: March 2020

I provide regular updates on my work to local residents.

 

You can find previous reports of my work on my web site; www.ruthcadbury.co.uk  I also report regularly on my Facebook page and via Twitter and Instagram @RuthCadbury. You can see full details of my questions and speeches in Parliament, and get Regular updates about my Parliamentary activities on TheyWorkForYou in Hansard and on YouTube

HEATHROW DECISION

The Court of Appeal has ruled that the Government should have taken the climate change implications of the Paris Agreement into account when drawing up the National Policy Statement which outlined its plans for a third runway.  The Court has not said there will be no third runway but is inviting the Government to reconsider and amend the NPS in order to take account of the Paris Agreement. It is widely assumed that Prime Minister Boris Johnston, a long-standing opponent of Heathrow, will amend the NPS to kill off a third runway.  The Government has made it clear that it will not appeal against the appeal court decision to the Supreme Court.  Whilst Heathrow Airport will do so, it might struggle to overturn the judgment if it does not have Government backing.

 

Whilst I believe that Runway 3 is increasingly unlikely to happen, we havn't stopped Heathrow's insatiable appetite for more flights. I have no doubt that Heathrow are already working on option B - to try to get more flights on the existing two runways.  In the last but one consultation Heathrow offered the option of putting additional flights on the existing runways as an interim measure while Runway 3 was being built; by using IPA (Independent Parallel Approaches).  This means having additional flights joining the approach path later (from the north over Acton etc and from the south over Kingston & Richmond). 

 

My take is that they will now go for this option as their way of getting more flights in, without the hassle & cost of another runway. 

 

This will mean we lose the current night flight regime, which effectively means we currently have no flights between 11.30pm - 4.30am and only 16 flights 4.30-6.00 am.  We would also lose the alternation regime, which gives those living under the existing flight paths 8 hours respite (for the 70% of the time the planes are landing on Westerly operation). 

 

So we must continue the fight by saying “NO Expansion” for all the reasons we have been opposing the third runway; climate change, additional noise, additional communities affected, more road congestion, more air pollution......  

 

Meanwhile; consultations on night flights and and Aviation White Paper are still awaited

For more information, the AirportWatch website is full of up-to-date information: http://www.airportwatch.org.uk/

 

In February The New Economics Foundation published an excellent report “Baggage Claim” about how building Runway 3 draws jobs, passengers and economic opportunities away from the UK regions towards London. This is the opposite of the “levelling up” that the Government is trying to achieve. This a a time when Heathrow has hundreds of job vacancies, and the “Better not Bigger” slogan means our focus must be on improving terms and conditions for Heathrow workers now.

In a major debate on Transport & Decarbonisation I tackled the myths about electric planes and sustainable fuel and called for a frequent flyer levy

 

Following a meeting in Isleworth with Managers of local pre-school nurseries, I wrote to Education Secretary Gavin Williamson urging more funding for nurseries

 

Following Health Secretary Matt Hancock’s statement on the coronavirus, on behalf of a constituent’s mother, I asked if the Government would extend the visas of visitors from Wuhan. (I am pleased to report that the Government has now agreed this!)

 

I co-signed letters; to the Home Secretary to stop the Deportation flights; to the DWP to end 5 week wait and 2 child limit on Universal Credit

 

When the PM brought a statement to the House on Transport infrastructure I asked how much will be spent on cycling and I didn’t get a clear answer.  I also wrote a Guardian article on the issue

 

I signed Early Day motions: on the conduct of Judge Tolson in the Family Court; asking DWP to review the use of Foodbanks; on Animal Cruelty; and on assaults on shopworkers.

LOCAL UPDATE

I am pleased that Brentford will soon have a Post Office Counter again, based at Costcutter near the canal bridge.  Good news locally, especially for local group Brentford Voice who had started a petition.  But I am still pushing the Post Office on their criteria that should ensure that no community is without an accessible PO counter.  These provide key services that are particularly important to elderly and disabled residents, and to small businesses.

Printed from an email sent my Ruth Cadbury MP