Despair of village doomed by bigger Heathrow

RESIDENTS in a village that would be demolished to make way for a third Heathrow runway fear time has run out in their battle against the bulldozers.

Sipson, which is already overshadowed by Britain's biggest airport, will be wiped off the map if the Government approves the expansion plan.

The decision is only days away, but the people who live in Sipson's 700 homes are resigned to losing their fight.

Mark Bridle, 38, a carpenter, said: "It seems like Gordon Brown is going to say yes to the runway, but people are never going to give up. I don't think people here have been treated very well. They have been left on tenterhooks.

"The Government is destroying a village. The airport is in the wrong place and it's growing. They won't ever be satisfied. They will want a fourth runway, I'm sure."

Campaigner Lynne Davies, 60, a retired florist, said: "I have lived in Sipson for 50 years. My brother-in-law built my house and now we have a Spanish company coming in with compulsory purchase and offering us peanuts.

"They have only offered us market value, moving costs and 10 per cent commission when they get planning permission. That's not a good deal. I don't want somebody telling me what to do.

"And environmentally it's not good for anybody. We have got the Government telling us to cut our emissions and then in the next breath they want to throw it out of the window."

Andrew O'Connell, 45, a British Airways coach driver, said: "I'm surprised it's come this quickly - I thought it would be 10 to 15 years away. It's going to destroy a lot of people and a lot of older people who live in this village.

"I will be gutted when it goes. It will be heartbreaking. I don't know where to move to, I love it here. The Government is messing about with people's lives. They should expand Stansted or Gatwick instead. They have a lot more land there.

Bryan Sobey, 79, a retired customs officer and member of No Third Runway Action Group, said: "Destroying this town is outrageous. It means my house is where a future Terminal Six will be. I will be evicted from my home. But I'm not sure it's a done deal, not quite so sure as I was a little time ago.

"I thought the Government would lose too much face if they backed off but they have a little bit of a rebellion in their own ranks."

Kitty Seccombe, 79, a retired B&B manager, said: "A third runway will kill me. I've got deterioration of the spine, osteoarthritis, osteoporosis, arthritis and irritable bowel syndrome and I'm all on my own. Even if I wanted to move I wouldn't get another home of the same standard with the money they are giving us. They will have to bulldoze the house with me in it."

Shaun Walters, 45, landlord of the 400-year-old King William IV pub, said: "There should be progress, but not at the expense of people's homes. They can take my pub and rebuild it somewhere else - that's no problem.

"It's not the bricks and mortar, it's the people in them. It's a community."