Overview
- Heathrow has set up a fully funded wellbeing service run by Ardent Management and delivered by Vita Health Group that offers a 24/7 helpline, one-to-one counselling and access to clinical treatments including cognitive behavioural therapy, and the airport says it will not have access to individual case data.
- The support is aimed at people inside the compulsory purchase zone where Heathrow estimates about 750 homes could be taken to make way for a 3,500-metre runway.
- Heathrow has floated a compensation offer of 125% of market value plus payment of stamp duty and legal fees for households served compulsory purchase orders.
- Campaigners and local politicians have criticised the therapy offer as inadequate, warning of village demolitions, higher noise and climate impacts, and broader social harm if the expansion proceeds.
- The scheme is moving through planning after ministers published the Airports National Policy Statement and opened a public consultation until September 1, and coverage highlights rival proposals and cost estimates that range roughly between £33 billion and £49 billion which affect whether the M25 would need to be moved.