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A campaign group for a third runway at Heathrow that gets funding from the airport has been distributing “incredibly misleading” information to households in west London, according to opponents of the expansion.
The group, called Back Heathrow, sent leaflets to people living near the airport, claiming expansion could be the route to a “greener” airport and suggesting it would mean only the “cleanest and quietest aircraft” fly there.
It comes as the airport prepares to submit its planning application for a third runway ahead of the 31 July deadline, following the government’s statement of support for the expansion.
Back Heathrow calls itself a “local campaign group of over 100,000 residents” and does not mention the funding it receives from the airport in the newsletter.
Its website also does not mention the current financial support and says it “initially launched with funding from Heathrow Airport but we have since grown”.
Back Heathrow also told Sky News it had “always been open” about the support it receives from the airport.
At the bottom of every web page, the organisation says: “Back Heathrow is a group of residents, businesses and community groups who have come together to defend the jobs that rely on Heathrow and to campaign for its secure future.”
Heathrow Airport said it had always been clear about funding Back Heathrow, but would not disclose how much it provides.
Parmjit Dhanda in 2009 at the hustings to be Speaker of the House of Commons. Pic: Reuters
Who’s behind Back Heathrow?
The group’s executive director is former Labour minister Parmjit Dhanda, who was MP for Gloucester from 2001 to 2010 and sits on the National Policy Forum – the body responsible for developing Labour policy.
Latest accounts for Back Heathrow show it had…
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