HEATHROW

[Fairdealfrank]

populus poll

Well well, despite being a small sample and inconsistent, it does reveal something.

The inconsistency relates to two things:

(1) why were the constituencies of Twickenham and Slough omited? Both are in the airport community, arguably more so than Richmond Park;

(2) why is Hillingdon done as a "borough" while the rest are on a constituency basis? The figures for the Hayes and Harlington constituency should have been included on their own, the rest of Hillingdon borough is irrelevant for these purposes.


Importantly it shows that HEATHROW is very low on the list of peoples' priorities and that no seats will change hands on this issue.


Interestingly, the Richmond Park constituency sticks out like a sore thumb.

Would hazard a guess that it has the least amount of "home-grown long term locals", particularly in Richmond, Kew Gardens and Barnes, they will have been driven out by house prices since the 1960s.

Richmond Park probably has the fewest airport workers/airport-related workers (they are not generally not well paid enough to afford Richmond house prices/rents).

Heathrow expansion is also more of an issue there because the MPs have made it so, on apparant environmental grounds, both former Libdems and currently the particularly high profile Conservative, Zac Goldsmith, who is always banging on about it.

On the other hand, it contains some of the richest in the country and they are far more likely to be travelling abroad, and doubtless use Heathrow, and would not want to see it closed and the hub moved to the estuary.

But even in the Richmond Park constituency, 63% think Heathrow is beneficial for them, 56% beneficial for the community and 75% beneficial for the country, and only 11% more oppose expansion than support it.


The potential closure of Heathrow will become a toxic issue locally in the unlikely event of the estuary hub being the favoured option. As we all know, without Heathrow closure, the estuary hub won't happen. Even with Heathrow closed, the airlines, premium passengers, and businesses looking for a European HQ may prefer Amsterdam to the estuary.

So if Heathrow closes, buy shares in KLM.