Concerns over Airtrack

Preliminary Airtrack plans - designed to provide new rail access to Heathrow from the south and west - were discussed at the meeting of Spelthorne Council's executive committee on Tuesday.

It voted to strongly oppose overhead electrification on environmental grounds.

Instead, the council will insist the entrance of Terminal 5 will be where the shift from overhead to in-track power will come.

Airtrack could run across Spelthorne land worth as much as £15million.

Council leader John Packman said: "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.

"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."

The consultation covered track alignment options, station locations and engineering issues at key Spelthorne sites.

The executive also considered the impact on Staines town centre.

It voted to support track alignment that minimised the loss of common and SSSI land.

The council rejected BAA's station placement options and instead proposed more visible locations.

Quizzed in the yourlocalguardian newsroom earlier this week, London Mayor Ken Livingstone said Airtrack sounded "a lovely idea" but he had not received any formal presentation of the plans.

He said before he could give it his support, he would need to see the full financial details and also the impact on nearby residents.

"It's one of the those schemes that have been around forever," Mr Livingstone said.

"In principle it sounds a lovely idea.

"(But) I have yet to have any proposals from anyone.

"I'm not sure they've got the money for it.

"And you'd need to know the impacts on the area it goes through."