A FRIENDLY walk through the streets of Colnbrook briefly brought supporters and opponents of Heathrow expansion together last week.

But the village’s Parish Council chairman Peter Hood emphasised that the stroll - involving him, parish vice-chairman cllr Ray Angell and airport representatives Nigel Milton and Simon Earles did not mean the parish was easing up on its opposition to Heathrow’s plans for a new runway that would swamp Colnbrook.

Cllr Hood said: “Heathrow has already done a lot of damage to the local community.

“The walk gave us a chance to discuss traffic problems and what could be done about the vans and taxis that now converge on our village because of the airport.”

He said the walk had been useful and had yielded some good suggestions from Mr Milton and Mr Earles. He said: “We discussed additional bus routes, better access off the A4 for workers at Heathrow, space for cycles at stations and better footpaths.”

He said Mr Milton had agreed to attend a public meeting at Colnbrook. But he said: “We still don’t want the third runway.”

Supporters of Gatwick Airport have stepped up their campaign to have the expansion take place there rather than Heathrow. They claim that the Davies Commission which was set up to advise on expansion plans got its figures wrong when it claimed that choosing Heathrow would deliver a £147billion boost to the economy.

Royal Borough councillor John Bowden (Conservative, Clewer East), chairman of its Aviation Forum, was also unimpressed. He said: “The borough is firmly opposed to the third runway at Heathrow and is lining up with other opponents to express its opposition.

“I’m optimistic.”