The government has given the go-ahead to build a new runway at Heathrow Airport, despite concerns about air pollution, noise and the destruction of homes in densely-populated west London. The decision is only the first step, though. A decision on the exact location of the new runway will be the subject of consultation. Parliament will vote in about a year, meaning the runway will open by 2025 at the earliest.
A passenger aircraft passes over a residential house as it prepares to land at Heathrow Airport in west LondonDaniel Leal-Olivas/AFP
If the proposed Heathrow expansion goes ahead, historic villages will be wiped off the map, or cut in half. Around 750 homes – some dating back to the 17th century – would be bulldozed, and surviving residential areas will have to cope with increased noise, pollution and traffic.
The proposed perimeter fence of the expanded airport would cut through the heart of the picturesque village of Harmondsworth, leaving the remaining centuries-old cottages effectively positioned inside an airport.
The interior of the Grade I listed medieval Harmondsworth Great BarnJack Taylor/Getty ImagesThe exterior of the medieval Harmondsworth Great Barn, which is Grade I listedJack Taylor/Getty ImagesStop Heathrow Expansion signs hang outside St Mary's Church in Harmondsworth, which dates back to 1067Dan Kitwood/Getty ImagesSun House in Harmondsworth, probably dating from the 16th centuryJack Taylor/Getty ImagesHarmondsworth resident Malcolm Carey, 82, is pictured outside the home he has lived in since 1970Jack Taylor/Getty ImagesHarmondsworth resident Bob Miltenburgh, 87, is pictured outside the home he has lived in since 1970Jack Taylor/Getty ImagesHarmondsworth Hall, a Grade II listed buildingDan Kitwood/Getty ImagesA 'No Third Runway' sign, featuring pictures of local points of interest, hangs on a lamp post in HarmondsworthJack Taylor/Getty ImagesAn anti-Heathrow sticker is seen at the Five Bells pub in HarmondsworthDan Kitwood/Getty ImagesA plane comes in to land at Heathrow Airport near HarmondsworthDan Kitwood/Getty ImagesA plane can be seen taking off from Heathrow Airport behind the village of HarmondsworthDan Kitwood/Getty Images
In the village of Sipson, environmental campaigners have built a self-sufficient squat camp called Grow Heathrow on land designated for the third runway. The land occupied by Grow Heathrow was once a derelict dumping ground before the squatters arrived in February 2010.
The entrance to the Grow Heathrow protest camp in SipsonJack Taylor/Getty ImagesA communal area inside the Grow Heathrow protest campLeon Neal/AFPResidents chat in the campPeter Nicholls/ReutersAn activist and a child walk through the Grow Heathrow protest campPeter Nicholls/ReutersActivists arrive at the Grow Heathrow protest campPeter Nicholls/ReutersAn activist looks at the greenhosues at the Grow Heathrow protest campPeter Nicholls/ReutersTree-top structures are seen within the Grow Heathrow protest campLeon Neal/AFPThe entrance gate to the Grow Heathrow protest campPeter Nicholls/ReutersA banner, which reads 'BAA Want Homes For Profit', hangs on a fence in SipsonJack Taylor/Getty ImagesA cyclist passes Sipson Christian FellowshipJack Taylor/Getty ImagesPeople walk past a mural painted by activists in opposition to proposed Heathrow Airport expansion, in SipsonJack Taylor/Getty Images
How close homes are to the expanded airport determines how much compensation homeowners will be offered. The owners of the 750 homes that would have to be bulldozed are covered by a compulsory purchase scheme, which means they will be offered 25% more than the market value value of their properties, plus legal fees and stamp duty costs. Nearly 4,000 homeowners in nearby villages will be offered the choice of staying in their homes – next to the new runway – or selling at 25% above market value after the new runway has been built.
