The Bishop of Willesden has come out against what he is calling the 'obliteration' of Harmondsworth and its local church and graveyard in the wake of today's airport expansion proposals.
The Airports Commission has short-listed the building of a third runway at Heathrow as one of the options for the UK's controversial airport expansion strategy.
If given the go-ahead it could see Harmondsworth's 14th century Great Barn, and St Mary's Church, an area under Rt Revd Peter Broadbent's care, effectively razed to the ground.
The commission has found that one runway is needed by 2030, to maintain Britain's strong international connectivity. A runway at the north-west location, one of four options first revealed by Heathrow in July, would mean Harmondsworth and Longford effectively wiped off the map, with around 950 homes facing compulsory purchase and demolition.
Bishop Peter told Premier's Marcus Jones on the News Hour why he favours the construction of a completely new airport that would be situated on the Thames instead.
The Airports Commission, being led by Sir Howard Davies, was set up by the Government to look into ways to deliver extra airport hub capacity in the south-east of England, to meet future aviation demand.
Sir Howard Davies has said he would consider the idea of building a new airport in the Thames Estuary, plans for which have been backed by the London Mayor, Boris Johnson, although he did not include it on the shortlist of options. Instead, the former head of the Financial Services Authority has also short-listed the option of a second runway for Gatwick airport.
Sir Howard said: "The UK enjoys excellent connectivity today.The capacity challenge is not yet critical but it will become so if no action is taken soon and our analysis clearly supports the provision of one net additional runway by 2030."
He warned if the UK did not expand its airports then it would cost the economy £45-billion over 60 years and that to cope with increasing passenger numbers the first new runway should be operation by 2030, the second by 2050.