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Rainham to Harold Wood – 2004

Rainham to Harold Wood: On Friday 8 October 2004 I put my Brompton folding bicycle on the train from Staines to Waterloo and then made my way to Rainham, the furthest station east my Travelcard would take me. I can’t now remember if I rode across the city to Fenchurch Street Station or took the slower but lazier route on the Jubilee Line to West Ham to transfer to the C2C train.

This was a ride inspired by Iain Sinclair’s book ‘London Orbital’, published in 2002, based on his walks around the M25. I’d been given the hardback as a Christmas present from my wife to add to his other works on our groaning bookshelves. In 2003 it came out as a paperback and secondhand copies of both this and the hardback are readily available online.

Of course, just as Sinclair couldn’t actually walk along the motorway, neither could I ride along it, but plotted a route that more or less followed it, crossing a couple of times from one side to another.

Sinclair’s book is still an interesting read – and having taken it down from the shelf I’ll probably read it again – or perhaps watch the film. It’s a book full of interesting stories, including of the gestation of London Heathrow where he writes about the way that the war cabinet were deceived into using emergency wartime powers “to establish, by a network of dubious commercial deals, a major airport that was only 15 miles from the centre of London.” A deception that we still suffer from and which our politicians now seem determined to expand despite its disastrous environmental consequences.

Sinclair’s walk passed within five minutes walk of where I live and contains some interesting insights on many places familiar from my own forty years of walking around London within the M25 which form the basis of most of the roughly 45,000 images in my Flickr albums. In 2025 The Observer included London Orbital as one of the best 25 books of the first 25 years of this century.

London Orbital is also a 2002 “visionary film” directed by Christopher Petit and Iain Sinclair, according to IMDb starring another of my favourite London writers, J G Ballard, who lived a couple of miles away from me in Shepperton. The full video has been removed from Vimeo due to copyright issues but you can still view the trailer and apparently can buy or rent the film

I didn’t write much about the ride back in 2004, though the ten pictures on My London Diary have captions. Here is the complete main text:

Earlier in the month I’d taken the Brompton for a ride along the eastern edge of London from Rainham to Harold Wood, most of the time close to the M25. its very rural most of the way, quite unlike Staines which somehow got left out of London. My ride even included the only part of Greater London outside the M25, North Ockenden.

*Gravestone of Geraldine Elizabeth Batt, “Our Lady” to London Thieves, and who was buried at North Ockenden in 1931, and her sister Margaret.*

In 2004 I could find nothing about Geraldine Elizabeth Batt, but since then much more information has been posted online, in the reports of the Thurrock Local History Society, where on 5 May 2026 Phil Lobley gave a talk on her and other members of her family. Although it gives information on Geraldine and Margaret (and this an other talks are recorded on the page in fascinating detail), he concluded that nothing has been found as to why this inscription was used, but suggested it might be a reference to the help gave to the poor and criminal classes in her work with the mission of St. John the Evangelist in Red Lion Square in Holborn where she lived for many years and ran a Boy’s Club. Another sister married into a family connected with North Ockenden and that family was probably responsible for her burial there and for this memorial.

You can still see the small number of pictures I originally posted on My London Diary at Rainham to Harold Wood. Most on this post are pictures not included there.

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Heathrow flashmob against airport expansion – 2016

Heathrow flashmob against airport expansion: On Saturday 1st October 2016 I made my way from Hatton Cross Station with protesters to Terminal 2 after we were informed that this was where the planned ‘#StayGrounded‘ flashmob protest organised by Reclaim The Power was to start shortly.

Although the location had been kept secret before the event, and most of the several hundred protesters told to gather at the underground station, Heathrow security seem to be expecting us when we arrived and the Departures lounge and had obviously decided to treat the event with a minimum of intervention so as not to give it greater publicity.

Security watched the protest standing around the area where it was taking place and only stopping protesters when they tried to go in further to the check-in area, but otherwise making no attempt to stop the protest or prevent me and the other press photographing it.

I sat somewhat uneasily in the departures lounge, discretely photographing the protesters, many of whom had come with suitcases and bags to blend in with the passengers until red handkerchiefs have the signal for the protest to begin.

When it did come the protesters quickly moved into the open space and staged a die-in, some opening their jackets to reveal ‘No Third Runway’ t-shirts.

Others took out aprons from their luggage and stood with the message ‘Climate Change Has A Death Toll’.

People began to loudly read out information about the effects on climate of air travel.

Some taking part in the die-in had brought posters and held them on their chests and others wore medical face masks to point out the pollution caused by air traffic and road traffic bringing fliers to the airport.

The readings continued and a group of protesters dressed as ‘frequent fliers’ in business suits apparently waiting to catch a plane became increasingly restive at being held up by the protests.

Some of the ‘frequent flyers’ began to move forward stepping over the protesters to reach the ‘High Polluters Club Frequent Flyer VIP Check-in’ which had been set up for them.

There they sipped champagne (from empty glasses to comply with airport restrictions), chatted idly and held up large cartoon ‘speech bubbles’ with messages including “When People have to fight to breathe clean air, the government is not fit for purpose“, “‘I got £100K bonus this year“, “I’m one of the 15% who make 70% of flights” and “I‘m flying to my 2nd home in France“.

Next came some songs specially written for the occasion which unfortunately I didn’t record and then some dances, with an an aviation version of ‘Ring a-Ring of Roses’ which of course ends with everyone falling down.

At the end of the protest came a special version of ‘Auld Lang Syne‘ against airport expansion and a little more dancing before we all left the terminal.

I took a few pictures on the way out, then went to the bus station to catch a local bus to Terminal 5 from where I could get a bus home.

But as well as the protest inside the airport I had photographed, there had also been a protest by cyclists which had been met with a huge reaction from the police, disrupting traffic for miles around and leading to wide diversions. My bus was diverted by the M4 and M25 taking over twice as long as normal.

Many more pictures on My London Diary: Heathrow flashmob against airport expansion.

Heathrow expansion is now back on the table, although only if it can be shown to be consistent with our climate change obligations. Of course there is no real chance that it ever can be, but often things like this have been fudged to allow things to happen – Heathrow itself only came about on the basis of lies that it was needed for military use. And a very significant part of this fudging is the recent Draft Heathrow Expansion National Policy Statement published in June 2026 and the proposal to prioritise hub airport capacity and national economic growth as ‘Critical National Growth Infrastructure’.

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Cycling The Colne Valley – 2004

Cycling The Colne Valley: The Colne Valley Regional Park was founded in 1965 but its development has been rather frustrated over the years, with the M25 being built along much of it and the M4 and M40 passing through, not to mention the increasing development of Heathrow – and if it ever goes ahead the third runway will cut a huge swathe through it.

The park stretches from Rickmansworth in the north to Staines in the south, and my bike ride on September 1st 2004 was only in the southern half of it, from Staines to Harefield and back.

Cycling The Colne Valley - 2004 — *Lock and bridge, Grand Union Canal, near Harefield, Middlesex.*

Somewhere close to West Drayton was a finger post showing a bridleway – the Colne Valley Trail – to Staines. I rode and walked past it on various occasions; it led just a few yards to a fence and a firmly locked gate. More than 20 years later the trail has still not managed to reach Staines, though the map on the park site shows it now ending on the Colnbrook Bypass, so perhaps some progress has been made.

As my account in 2004 below suggests, it was in some ways a frustrating ride, but the Grand Union Canal always has some interest as I hope the photos show. And there are some good short rides and walks in the park as well as places worth a visit – including Harmondsworth with its Great Barn – the village and others will be destroyed if Heathrow gets another runway and the barn may not survive being moved.

Here’s what I wrote in 2004.

On my bike

Staines – Harefield – Staines

September seems like the end of summer, but started with some of the best weather we’ve had this year, so I felt like a bike ride. I’m still waiting for the bridle path from Staines to West Drayton to open, so it started with the normal dusty trek up past the edge of the airport. A skeletal T5 (or are they building T6 or T7 as well) looms immense and threatening over the surrounding countryside, but there are no decent views past the fences and screening trees. I push on up to Harefield at speed before descending to the canal, only to find that I’ve picked the one bit of towpath that is actually closed for repair work.

*Offices along Grand Union Canal, Uxbridge, Middlesex*

So I take some other footpaths, and don’t so much get lost as overcome with uncertainty as one of these disappears in the middle of a gravel site.

I give up and take to the main road, soon to discover it’s a mistake. Eventually I get back to the canal and cycle back along the towpath all the way back to West Drayton to curse again the barred bridle path and the busy traffic and bicycle hostile road engineering – now in the rush hour – past the airport.

There are a few more pictures on My London Diary beginning here.

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Heathrow, Pendragon & Brexit – 2018

Heathrow, Pendragon & Brexit: On Saturday 23 June 2018 I went to Parliament Square where campaigners against the expansion of Heathrow Airport were holding a rally. While there I also saw a small group of the right-wing fringe activist, the Arthur Pendragons, try without success to deliver letters to Parliament. Later I met a march of around a hundred thousand who had marched to a rally which more than filled Parliament Square calling for a People’s vote before we finally left Europe.

Vote No to Disastrous Heathrow Expansion

*‘Boris’ looks worried by the 3rd runway – and he invented a trip to Afghanistan to avoid the vote*

This protest took place on the Saturday before Parliament was to vote on the expansion of Heathrow on Monday. Prime Minister Boris Johnson who when London Mayor had promised he would lie down in front of the bulldozers to stop the development had conveniently arranged to be out of the country for the vote.

The building of a new runway and associated works would cause years of disruption and even when completed would significantly increase traffic congestion and increased pollution across a wide area around Heathrow as well as under the flight path in a city with already dangerous and often illegal levels of pollution.

*Some of those taking part had been on hunger strike for 14 days outside the Labour Party HQ*

More importantly it would add to the the already growing threat of irreversible climate breakdown that could threaten the future of human life on the earth.

*They stated a vote for the third runway is ‘Voting for Climate Genocide’*

The estimates for the contribution to jobs and the economy by a third runway made by Heathrow and the government were wildly optimistic and after it was completed increased automation and the use of AI were likely to lead to a decline in local jobs.

As I’ve often pointed out, “Almost any other development likely in the area blighted by the expansion would provide more local jobs, and closing Heathrow altogether for a new town development would provide much greater opportunities.“

*It seemed inevitable that the government will win the vote – but still unlikely the runway will be built*

Unsurprisingly Parliament voted overwhelmingly in favour of expansion on Monday 25 June 2018, though the realities of the situation means that it has not happened yet, and many think it unlikely to ever do so.

Many more pictures on My London Diary at Vote No to Disastrous Heathrow Expansion.

White Pendragons ‘Independence Day’ letters refused

Parliament Square

*Shaun Morris of the Arthur Pendragons argues with police who will not accept their letters*

The Arthur Pendragons take their name from the Anglo-Saxon King Arthur (who modern historians doubt ever existed) and their ideas from a misunderstanding of English Common Law, and in particular of the Magna Carta.

They gained a little publicity when they made an unsuccessful attempt at a ‘citizen’s arrest’ on London’s Mayor Sadiq Khan, claiming he should not be Mayor “because he is a Muslim“. Despite this they claim they are open welcome people of all races and religions including the settled immigrant communities. Some of the group were previous supports of racist far-right organisations but they emphasise a non-violent orientation, with their slogan: “No Loss, No Harm, No Injury.”

*A woman pushes her letter through the fence around the Houses of Parliament*

Their letters stated that they withdrew their support for parliament’s underhand dealings with the EU and demanded the return of all sovereign powers to the individuals and the British people, as well as an end to taxation and other orders and demands. Police at the gates refused to take these letters and in the end they simply pushed them through the railings.

White Pendragon letters refused

Many Thousands March for a People’s Vote

*Parliament Square was full and many watched the rally on a giant screen in Whitehall*

This was one of London’s larger marches and filled Parliament Square for a rally with an overflow in Whitehall while others were reported to still be waiting to leave Pall Mall.

Many of those on the march had posters or placards saying they had been lied to when they voted for Brexit in 2016, though others had voted remain.

*Who needs Airbus when you’ve got Spitfire?’*

*Caroline Lucas among those holding the main banner*

But in 2018 opinion polls suggested than almost two thirds of the British people backed having a final vote on Brexit now that we had a better idea of what it would actually mean.

And last Saturday, 20th June 2026, ten years after the Brexit referendum some of the same people were marching on the streets of London again, calling for us to rejoin Europe. It was a smaller march than in 2018 but the case for Britain moving back closer to Europe even if not actually rejoining has become very much stronger now years after we have actually left and we see its results. You can see some of my pictures from the 2026 march on Facebook.

More from 2018 on My London Diary at Many Thousands March for a People’s Vote.

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No Borders: Harmondsworth Detention Centre – 2006

No Borders: Harmondsworth Detention Centre: Twenty years ago on April 8th 2006 I was outside the two large detention centres on the Bath Road at Harmondsworth on the northern edge of Heathrow Airport. A protest there had been called by No Borders and among those protesting with them were the International Organisation of Iranian Refugees,

Detainees were kept way from the front of the building so they could not see the protes, but they could hear they were there.

It’s hard to find the text I wrote back in 2006 or the pictures, so I’ll include the text below along with a link to the start of the pictures.

No Borders: Harmondsworth Detention Centre

Harmondsworth, London

The No Borders demonstration outside Colnbrook and Harmondsworth detention centres – the two are separated only by a narrow road – was at times loud and noisy, so those kept in these secure prisons knew that they were receiving support, even though they were cleared from that side of the building so they could not hear the speeches. [Some who phone the protest clearly could hear them.]

Some demonstrators who went along a public footpath to a field at the back of the building were forcibly removed and detained for around an hour.

[Among those detained and kettled by police was a videographer, a fellow NUJ member, and when he showed his press card, police told him it wasn’t a real press card and refused to let him leave. He called up to me and a few other photographers asking one of us to come down and show them a press card, which is supposed to ensure that police let us get on with our job. I fished mine out from my pocket, then saw it had expired at the end of March, and put it back again. Another photographer went to his aid.

After around an hour the protesters were taken out from the kettle one by one and police demanded their names and addresses – threatending arrest if they did not give them – although the police had no power to do so.]

A number of the detainees actually did speak to protesters on their mobile phones [from inside Harmondsworth detention centre] and their calls were held to a microphone and relayed over the protester’s public address system. The detainees thanked the demonstrators for coming and also told us about the inhumane and arbitrary treatment they were receiving.

Many of those held have fled from violence and repression in their own countries, only to arrive here and find that immigration officials refused to listen to or believe the stories they told. Some have been held in detention for more than 3 years.

Detainees include some who have been living in this country for a number of years, working and paying taxes, setting up lives in this country and contributing to it. Then they are taken without prior warning and imprisoned in these units, sometimes more because the immigration service has targets to meet than anything to do with their case.

Possibly we need an immigration policy, although I’m not actually convinced. It’s an area where I have more faith in those market forces our governments now seem to worship than most. But whether or not we need one, if we have one it should be honest, transparent, just and efficient. At the moment it fails on every count.

Many of us are ashamed of the way our government has decided to let families and children in particular exist without proper support. Ashamed when we hear stories of families who get a knock on the door at 4am and are taken away in a matter of hours.Ashamed that we are sending people back to countries where we know they are almost certain to be imprisoned, tortured and possibly killed

More Pictures on My London Diary.

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No Borders and the West End – 2007

No Borders and the West End: On Saturday 10th February 2007 I went to photograph a protest against our racist, cruel and arbitrary detention of immigrants and asylum seekers at the neighbouring Colnbrook and Harmondsworth detention centres on the Colnbrook By-Pass immediately north of Heathrow Airport – now known as Heathrow Immigration Removal Centre. Like the first protest I covered there in April 2006 it was organised by No Borders, though several later events there were and at Yarls Wood were by Movement for Justice who were taking part in this protest with a Fight Racism! Fight Imprerialism! banner and others.

Harmondsworth (or rather Longford where both centres are located) was only a few miles bike ride from home, and after around an hour I jumped back on my bike, cycled home and took the train into London where I had arranged to meet a friend, I think probably to hand over some material.

We took a wander around Piccadilly Circus, Trafalgar Square and other parts of central London before saying goodbye and my making my way to Waterloo Station, photographing a few things on the way.

Here with the usual corrections is what I wrote about the day in 2007 on My London Diary and a few of the pictures with links more.

No Borders Demo at London Detention Centres

Colnbrook & Harmondsworth

No Borders and the West End - 2007 — *Rhythms of Resistance players outside the detention centres – Harmondsworth centre in background.*

I arrived at the detention centres at Harmondsworth (Colnbrook and Harmondsworth are separated only by a narrow private road) just as the people who had come by coach from London marched onto the roadway leading to the two sites, with banners and the street band of Rhythms Of Resistance.

We had come to give support to migrants and refugees, and to demand the closure of detention centres, a stop to deportations and and end to immigration controls.

Since I was last here the windows of the two detention centres seem to have been blocked off, giving them a more sinister appearance, but although those imprisoned within the blocks were not allowed to see us, I imagine they could hear the noise that was being made.

I left after around an hour, when a few people were still arriving. As well as the crowd in the road, there were also a number of people lined up along the main road in front of the two ‘prisons’.

There didn’t seem to be a huge police presence, although probably there were rather more on hand not far away. I left to meet a friend I’d arranged to see in the centre of London.

More pictures

London: West End

*Birthday celebrations at Piccadilly Circus.*

There wasn’t a great deal special happening as I walked through the streets of the West End of London. At Piccadilly Circus we bumped into some people with placards, but they were just celebrating someones birthday.

In Trafalgar Square we found the Biblical Gospel Mission preaching and handing out free bibles, though I told them I had several already at home.

*One of several sculptures and statues I photographed*

More pictures from the West End

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Gate Gourmet & My Bike Ride – 2005

Gate Gourmet & a Bike Ride: On Sunday December 4th 2005 I got on my bike and rode the roughly 1l miles to Southall, where I locked up my bike (not the Brompton, but an old CinellI racer I’d got many years ago for my 13th birthday) and photographed a protest by workers sacked from their jobs at Heathrow airport catering firm Gate Gourmet.

There is an excellent article on the Striking Women website which gives the background to the dispute and explains why 56 women workers of South Asian origin felt betrayed by the agreement reached by the TGWU over the dispute and refused the compensation offered of between £5000 and £8000 – and refused to leave quietly – though most of the workers took the money rather than fight for justice.

The workers and their shop stewards received little support from the official trade union movement in their fight for justice and the TGWU hardship fund ended its support in January 2006, and the TGWU (by then part of UNITE) cease all support in 2009. Around a dozen of the workers – mainly those who were for various reasons not at work when Gate Gourmet locked the workers out – eventually won claims for unfair dismissal.

The dispute made very clear the extent to which union powers had been emasculated by a succession of Acts passed under Thatcher – the Employment Act 1980, Employment Act 1982, Trade Union Act 1984, Trade Union Art 1990, Employment Act 1988, Employment Act 1990. John Major continued with the Trade Union Reform and Employment Rights Act 1993 and then Blair and New Labour took over the job.

But even given all this, the TGWU ended up caving in to the employers and giving them everything they wanted in the settlement it made.

Below (with minor corrections) is the post I wrote back in 2005.

Gate Gourmet – the Struggle Continues

Southall, December 4, 2005

Gate Gourmet was split off from British Airways in 1997 to cut costs by out-sourcing their catering. It was sold to US company Texas Pacific in 2002, and they also decided to cut costs. This seems to have meant increasing workload, bringing in more managers (why?) and replacing skilled and experienced staff by unskilled workers. They went into a dispute with the TGWU (Heathrow’s major union) over layoffs and worsening conditions, then on 10 August 2005, took on 120 temporary workers.

Their aim was to provoke an unofficial walkout, which would allow them to sack the workers. The workers held a union meeting in the canteen and were told by management that if they were not back at work in 3 minutes they were all sacked. It is claimed that management had locked the doors just to make sure they didn’t return. The workers were then forcibly evicted from the premises by the private security guards the management just happened to have standing around waiting.

Britain’s anti-union laws (thanks to Mrs Thatcher) stack the odds against workers, allowing unscrupulous management to get away with most things short of murder if they put their minds to it.

The TGWU were hamstrung by a High Court injunction, which prevented them from doing much to help the workers. The only thing that helped them was illegal action by their former colleagues at BA, said to have cost that company £40 million. So eventually BA forced Gate Gourmet to come to some kind of compromise with the TGWU, but this has failed to satisfy most of the workers, who wanted their jobs back and decent working conditions. So, although all the papers reported it as over, the action still continues. When my wife flew BA from Heathrow a few days ago, she got a voucher to get sandwiches in the departure lounge rather than in-flight catering.

This is a dispute that highlights the need for proper trade union laws that give workers and unions a fair deal. It shows how union weakness has allowed the Labour Party to renege on the promises it made in opposition and to turn its back on its traditions of fair play. BA has also emerged as pretty short-sighted in its decision to out-source its catering, much as we have found out-sourcing to be a mistake over key services in hospitals and schools.

More pictures on My London Diary

Around Heathrow

December 4, 2005

*Farm at Bedfont, immediately south of Heathrow*

After the protest I was relieved to find my bike still in one piece where I had locked it and rode home. On my way to Southall I had time to spare and stopped to take a few pictures -and just a few more on my way home. Here is what I wrote in 2005.

I took my usual route to Southall on a push-bike – it takes me around 45 minutes if I don’t stop. but I nearly always do stop at least once to take some pictures. So here are a few pictures from around Heathrow, including a farm. Heathrow swallowed up some of the most productive arable land in the country including a number of fine orchards, but there are still a few farmed areas around its edges – cutting down the dangers of a crash, although some of the most used approaches come in low over many homes.

It was never a suitable site for a major airport, but the chances of any government biting the bullet and closing it down seem low. We should have been running it down for years, but instead have built 2 new terminals (both of which the airport authority said they would never need) and further disastrous development looks likely.

A few more pictures on My London Diary.

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Climate Rush in Hayes & Sipson – 2009

Climate Rush in Hayes & Sipson: On Saturday 5th September 2009 I went to Hayes to join a small group of Climate Rushers at a service at the start of a walk by the London Churches Environmental Network. We joined the marchers for the first part of their walk to the Sipson Airplot, set up to oppose plans for a third runway at Heathrow, rushing back there to prepare for the Celebration of Community Resistance which took place in the afternoon.

Climate Rush on the Run – Hayes & Sipson

On My London Diary you can read more about the Climate Rush, a group of women who had come together to celebrate the centenary of the 1908 ‘Suffragette Rush‘. In 1908 more than 40 women were arrested in an attempt to rush into the Houses of Parliament, and on 13 Oct, 2008, at the end of a rally in Parliament Square Climate Rush again tried to rush in.

Their protest in 2008 called for “men and women alike” to stand together and support three key demands:

* No airport expansion.
* No new coal-fired power stations.
* The creation of policy in line with the most recent climate science and research.

Since then Climate Rush had organised and taken part in various other climate protests and in September 2009 were taking part in “a rollicking tour of South West England“, staging events, supporting campaigns and “entertaining the towns, villages and hamlets” on their route with “16 Climate Suffragettes, 3 horses and 2 glorious caravans“. The Airplot at Sipson was their starting point and I’d photographed their procession to Heathrow the previous day, and later photographed them at a Green Fayre in Aylesbury.

After a service at St Anselm’s Church, Hayes attended by several Climate Rushers we set off with the the London Churches Environmental Network to walk back to Sipson. We left the marchers at Cranford Park to take a shorter route to get back to the Airplot to prepare for the Celebration of Community Resistance taking place there in the afternoon.

Much more on My London Diary at Climate Rush On the Run!

Climate Rush: Celebration of Community Resistance – Sipson

Greenpeace had the idea of setting up the Airplot, an orchard in the centre of the village of Sipson, one of those under threat from Heathrow’s plans for expansion. They bought the site and created one metre square plots of land there and invited the public to become “beneficial owners“, I think paying one pound for the privilege and receiving a certificate of ownership. Somewhere I may still have mine, but here is one on Wikimedia.

It had seemed a good idea which would make the development more complex, though I suspect would have had little or no effect in practice, but it was never put to the test as plans for the third runway were scrapped by the government in 2010 on environmental grounds – though they have since been revived.

The Airplot was the first stop on the Climate Rush tour and for the Celebration of Community Resistance they had invited activists from around the country to come and give short presentations on their campaigns.

The first example of community resistance we heard about was Radley Lakes at Didcot which npower wanted to fill in with pulverised fuel ash. Although some lakes had been filled, the campaign managed to save three of them. You can see more about them on the Radley Lakes Trust web site.

Next we heard about the scandal of opencast mining at Ffos-y-Fran, common land at Merthyr Tydfil. I photographed a Campaign Against Climate Change demonstration against this mine at the London offices of Argent Group plc in April 2008.

“Argent form half of Miller-Argent who run the UK’s largest opencast coal mine, Ffos-y-Fran in Merthyr Tydfil, South Wales. Just 36 metres from the nearest houses, extraction will continue for more than 15 years (perhaps as along as 40 years), producing coal that will add at least 30 million tons of CO2 to to our atmosphere. Scottish safety standards demand a minimum gap of 500 metres from housing, but the implementation of a 350 metres limit by the Welsh office has been delayed – allegedly to allow the Merthyr working to go ahead.”

Coal mining continued here until November 2023, and local residents say that the plans for the future of the site represent the “ultimate betrayal“.

Protesters had come earlier in the year from County Mayo in Ireland for a St Patrick’s Day protest at the Shell building against the Corrib Gas Project. We heard how the Rossport Solidarity Camp and the Shell to Sea campaign were fighting this against a corrupt government and thugs who protect the oil companies interest by illegal methods. While the protests failed to stop the project, the environmental groups involved continue to highlight related issues.

Cathy McCormack, a community activist in Glasgow Easterhouse was unable to attend but a colleague came to read her views on poverty and the financial crisis, and in particular the part played by the World Bank and the IMF.

Next we heard from two former Vestas workers who sat in their factory in Newport on the Isle of White when the company proposed the closure of what was then the UK’s only major wind turbine production site. Unfortunately they failed to prevent the closure.

The last group to talk were the No Third Runway Action Group (NoTRAG), and Geraldine described how they had opposed the BAA plans for airport expansion.

In the audience watching the presentation were local MP John McDonnell and airport campaigner John Stewart of HACAN. The campaigners won that round against Heathrow’s plans – and we celebrated in 2010, but today there are new plans – and a government which only plays lip-service to the coming environmental diaster seems sure to back either Heathrow’s own proposals or that from the Arora group, and the fight is on again.

Many more pictures on My London Diary at Celebration of Community Resistance.

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Heathrow Villages fight for survival – 2015

Heathrow Villages fight for survival: On Sunday 12th April 2015 in the run up to the 2015 General Election, campaigners launched a renewed fight against the expansion of Heathrow which threatens to swallow up much of the area, showing again the local determination to protect its historic community against a third runway.

As a fairly local resident although on the other side of Heathrow I’d been involved in the successful campaign a dozen years earlier against the expansion, which had eventually convinced all political parties that expansion at Heathrow was politically impossible. And when the 2010 election put a Tory Lib-Dem coalition into power plans were cancelled as the Lib-Dems had always strongly opposed them.

But Heathrow had not taken NO for an answer and had continued to spend a considerable amount lobbying for it, including setting up a heavily funded PR organisation called ‘Back Heathrow’ to come up with spurious survey results suggesting local backing for expansion.

In 2012 the coalition government set up an Airports Commission led by Sir Howard Davies who had held many leading roles as an economist for both governments and private companies and who when appointed resigned from his roles as an adviser to GIC Private Limited, formerly known as Government of Singapore Investment Corporation, a part owner of Heathrow.

Officially the commission’s role was to consider how the UK could “maintain its status as an international hub for aviation and immediate actions to improve the use of existing runway capacity in the next 5 years” but unofficially it was designed to produce a political consensus in its final report in Summer 2015 that would put Heathrow expansion back on track.

*The Polar Bears brought their banner ‘Any new runway is Plane Stupid’*

In October 2016 the Tories under Theresa May made a third runway and a new terminal a central Government policy, and in June 2018 the House of Commons voted by a large majority in favour, despite the opposition or abstention of most London MPs.

*Clifford Dixon (UKIP), Pearl Lewis (Conservative), John McDonnell (Labour) and Alick Munro (Green)*

The Supreme Court in 2020 ruled the government’s decision had been unlawful as they had not taken their committments to climate change under the Paris agreement into account. The government then accepted the judgement, but Heathrow appealed and won, with the ban being lifted.

*John Stewart of HACAN* *(Heathrow Association for the Control of Aircraft Noise)*

However the plans have so far not gone ahead, in part because governments have not agreed to pick up the huge infrastructure costs around the airport that would be required and that Heathrow were unwilling to finance.

*A war veteran plants a tree on the recreation ground against Heathrow expansion*

When the right-wing led Labour government came to power in 2024, they immediately set about making changes to the planning process that would enable developments like Heathrow to go ahead with little or no proper examination and inquiries. And in January 2025 they “confirmed it was the new Labour government’s plan to proceed with a third runway within the current parliamentary term.”

However the arguments against expansion continue to grow in strength, particularly on environmental grounds and the Trump-initiated slump in world trade seems likely to damage the economic arguments for expansion as well as increase the already huge costs of the project. So it still seems unlikely that it will happen, and certainly not by the “projected completion date around 2040.”

You can read more about the activities in Harmondsworth around the village centre back in April 2015 on My London Diary and see the strength of the local opposition back then. There were Morris Dancers performing outside the village pubs and inside the incredible Grade I listed Great Barn and a rally with the Plane Stupid polar bear, speeches from the general election candidates and protesters on what would be the new Heathrow boundary in the village centre.

Heathrow has of course promised the Great Barn would be protected along with the fine part 12th Century Parish Church, but they would not be the same without their context.

Heathrow represents a huge failure by successive governments over many years to set up a new major airport for London at some more suitable location. Even when opened as a civil airport in 1946 it was not a particularly suitable location, though when relatively small and quiet aircraft such as the DC3 were in use it was not a great problem. But once these began to be replaced by larger noisier and more polluting jets and passenger numbers and traffic in the surrounding area shot up the need to close it and move to a new location was clear. Heathrow’s answer was always to expand and make the problems worse, building new terminals (and actually closing runways that had become too short for the newer aircraft.) Heathrow should have been closed down years ago – and would have been a great site for a new town.

Heathrow Villages fight for survival.

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Heathrow, Gaza & the Tamils – 2009

Heathrow, Gaza & the Tamils: On Saturday 17th January 2009 I took a bus to Heathrow for a flash mob against a third runway, then the tube into Westminster for a protest against Israeli attacks on Gaza in Trafalgar Square which ended with a march to protest at Downing Street, where Tamils were protesting against the genocide taking place in Sri Lanka.

No Third Runway Decision Day Flashmob – Terminal 5, Heathrow Airport

Earlier in the week the Labour government under Gordon Brown had announced they were to press ahead with airport expansion and build a third runway at Heathrow despite the environmental consequences. Several hundred people turned up at Terminal 5 for a ‘flashmob’ protest at 12 noon.

“Attracting most press attention were four brave young ladies who had saved the ten quid for a red ‘STOP AIRPORT EXPANSION’ t-shirt and instead opted for red body paint with a black message across their midriffs, ‘Simply No Slaughter‘ and a pair of strategically placed gold sticking plasters proclaiming ‘art‘ and ‘port‘ (port was indeed on the left.)”

Many local residents were there, some with their children, along with John Stewart of HACAN (Heathrow Association for the Control of Aircraft Noise) the organisers of the event, and local MP John McDonnell who was being congratulated for his seizing the mace in the House of Commons when the announcement was made.

The demonstrators chanted, thrown red balloons in the air, red tennis balls at an ‘Aunt Sally’ of Transport Secretary Geoff Hoon and conga’ed around the area while a large squad of photographers photographed and videoed.

The campaigners were surrounded in a loose ring by police and airport security who made no attempt to stop them, though police had made some searches before the event began. Some of them were clearly amused by the event as were a few passengers making their way through the departure area.

*John Stewart of HACAN thanks everyone for coming*

After almost three-quarters of an hour of protest John Stewart thanked everyone for coming and repeated the determination of all those involved to keep up the fight to ensure that, despite the decision, the runway will never be built. So far it has been prevented, though it seems likely that despite the increasingly obvious and critical environmental crisis our current Labour government will resurrect this enviornmental catastrophe, though it remains doubtful if the private finance required can be found.

And there was a cheer for John McDonnell’s action in Parliament and a final chance to pelt the Transport Secretary before we all left for buses or tube.

Many more pictures at No Third Runway Decision Day Flashmob.

1000 Dead and Nothing Said – End the Slaughter of Gaza – Trafalgar Square

*A man burns an Israeli flag in at the rally in Trafalgar Square*

I was a little late arriving at the rally in Trafalgar Square but got there just in time to hear Tony Benn being announced and getting a huge greeting. As I commented he was “One of the greatest political figures of the last 50 years, [and} it’s a national tragedy that while he has so often been right on major issues, governments have seldom if ever followed his lead.”

*An 11 year old Palestinian girl, now living in Manchester speaks*

The square was fairly full with perhaps 5-10,000 protesters though there had been a much larger national protest in London a week earlier against the attacks on Gaza in previous weeks that had killed over a thousand Palestinians including more than 300 children.

*Palestinian singer Reem Kelani spoke before singing a traditional song*

After some more speeches a group of children all dressed in white robes marked with bloody red handprints who had been standing on the plinth came down and went with a deputation to take a letter from the rally to Downing St, calling for an immediate ceasefire and reparations for the war damage inflicted by the Israeli attacks.

I went with them down Whitehall to Downing St, where police led them into a pen close to the gates.

While Diane Abbott, MP, PSC General Secretary Betty Hunter and Lindsay German of Stop the War with others took the letter into Downing St, the children posed for pictures, at first while standing and then lying on the ground as if the innocent victims of an Israeli attack.

But unlike those 300 childen in Gaza, these children were just playing dead.

A few hours after this protest Israel announced a ceasefire on its own terms. The end of the killing was welcome, but there was no justice for Palestine.

Much more and many more pictures at Gaza: 1000 Dead and Nothing Said.

Tamils protest Sri Lankan Genocide – Downing St

Several hundred Tamils were densely packed into a pen opposite opposite Downing Street to draw attention to the continuing attacks on Tamil civilians, schools, hospitals and churches by the Sri Lankan Army and Air Force and to call for an independent Tamil state, Tamil Eelam, in Sri Lanka.

Tamils accuse the Sri Lankan government of genocide, and claim that in the past month alone over 300,000 Tamils have been forced to move out of their homes by the bombardment.

The decades long civil war which ended in May 2009 with the defeat of the Tamil Tigers had attracted relatively little attention in the mainstream media, but the assasination of leading Sri Lankan opposition newspaper editor Lasantha Wickramatunga on his way to work a week earlier and the publication of the obituary he had written for himself, And then they came for me, was the subject of a two page article in The Guardian on the day of this protest.

Tamils protest Sri Lankan Genocide

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