Heathrow Airport will never be expanded according to claims made by both the Conservative majority and the Labour group of Hillingdon Council, again confirming claims that the borough is against the Government's proposals.
Protesters stormed the latest budget meeting of the council, disrupting the Conservative motion to close two of the children's centres in the borough.
The group said they were part of Grow Heathrow, an area which has been transformed into a squatted community place in Sipson, one of the villages under threat from the planned expansion.
Expansion cannot happen
The leader of the Council, Councillor Ray Puddifoot MBE said: "I have seen the proposed flight paths and examined them. I do not believe there is a way for this to happen."
Cllr Puddifoot also insisted that he did not know why the protesters had chosen that particular council meeting for that particular protest.
Referring to the protest, the Conservative councillor added: "Residents come along to protest the no third runway type of thing, but I don't know what this particular instance was about. Hillingdon Council has always opposed the expansion of Heathrow Airport."
No change of mind for Hillingdon Labour Group
The Hillingdon Labour Group has previously expressed their opposition to the expansion of Heathrow in a council meeting in September 2016 and with it the closure of the children's centres and the financial repercussions of the motion.
They expressed doubts in a press release issued by the group which insisted: "Hillingdon is experiencing increasing pollution harmful to health, particularly around Heathrow, which is affecting thousands of Hillingdon residents with consequent health and financial costs."
Councillor Peter Curling (Lab, Townfield Ward) said Heathrow should not be expanded but simply made more efficient.
Cllr Curling said: "Our Labour Group is committed to opposing the expansion of the airport, as has always been our stance. We firmly believe that if changes were made, it should be to make Heathrow better, not bigger."
Cabinet Member for Finance, Property and Business Services, Councillor Jonathan Bianco said: "Someone should have reminded the protesters that they were at the wrong meeting, they should have been at Harrow or Ealing."
The demonstration was part of a wider scale protest which saw one man and one woman removed from the public chamber by security guards.
The protesters were arguing against plans to cut children's centres in the borough of Hillingdon, as a result of plans to cut nearly £1million from the children's centre budget.
Councillor Nick Denys (Con, Eastcote and East Ruislip), claimed that this was occurring across other London boroughs as well.
He said: "We're going to reduce our children's centres from 17 to 15. Harrow have cut theirs from 16 to 10 and Hounslow from 18 to five. The centres were originally set up and funded by New Labour through the Government's Early Intervention Grant. This grant no longer exists."
During the council meeting, the Conservative motion to cut the number of children centres in the borough was passed, with similar motions passed in Harrow and Hounslow. Funding for the centres has been reduced by the central government, leading to this decision to be taken by Hillingdon Council.
