As an aviator and a resident of Richmond, (5nm EGLL 27L) I'm concerned at the poor quality of debate on this thread.
All those who oppose Heathrow expansion are not moronic NIMBYs for whom protest is just a knee-jerk reaction. With all respect to esteemed contributors, the simplistic notion that all those who buy/rent around Heathrow must take their lumps is specious drivel.
Many of my neighbours have lived in this area since before the jet age, but even more recent incomers have legitimate grievances. What do you say to someone who bought at a time when there was an absolute promise of a 240,000-movement cap, or when there was an absolute promise that Terminal Four would be the last development at Heathrow? They weren't to know BAA couldn't lie straight in bed.
What do you say when they ask why the population of Scotland and northern England is forced to travel for a day to the south-eastern extremity of the UK in order to catch flights back over their own homes to reach North America? What do you say when they ask why avtur is tax-free, allowing even incompetent airlines to stay in business with dismal load factors?
Anybody who thinks they're attacking jobs should sit down and work out how many jobs would be created by having a less concentrated infrastructure.
The self-righteous belittling of their position is not enough. They do have a point, and the two companies who decide where traffic goes in the UK cannot hold onto that privilege forever.