Spelthorne Council welcomes early Airtrack consultation
Spelthorne Council has welcomed the opportunity to comment on some preliminary proposals for Airtrack – a scheme to provide a new rail service into Heathrow from the south and west of the airport. The consultation is about options for track alignment, station locations and engineering solutions at key locations in Spelthorne.
The Council’s Executive has given the proposals very serious consideration and is particularly concerned about the impact on Staines town centre, the potential loss of common land, encroachment into the Green Belt and damage to a Site of Special Scientific Interest (SSSIs).
The following are some of the key issues:
BAA propose a junction which will affect Staines Moor and there are four options. The Council supports the alignment that minimises the loss of common land and SSSI and which does not involve tight curves leading to excess wheel noise.
A new station is proposed just north of Staines High Street so that Airtrack services from Guildford and Reading would be able to stop at Staines. Other services including, possibly, Heathrow Express trains would also stop at Staines. The Council rejects all of BAA’s options and instead proposes one that involves the station being in a highly visible location with parking and access issues given thorough consideration.
The Council strongly opposes overhead electrification on environmental grounds. It will insist that the most obvious location for the change of power source should be the entrance to the Terminal 5 tunnel. This would minimise visual intrusion.
There are many other matters to consider including; design and landscaping to avoid adverse visual impacts, protecting the Green Belt, minimising visual and noise impacts and maintaining the rights of way network north of Staines.
Council Leader John Packman commented: “This is an extremely complex consultation on a very large scheme which would increase the proportion of air travellers, staff and visitors using public transport to get to and from the airport. The Council has taken some considerable time to provide a detailed assessment of these proposals and has set out a wide range of issues for BAA to consider. It is too early to give an overall view about Airtrack as a whole and we will not do that until we have seen the proposals in full but our comments thus far, reflect the many issues and concerns that a project of this size raises”.
