A feature of the Climate Camp was the support it received from West London residents. These people are angry and feel betrayed. Not just because of the massive expansion plans the Government and BAA are thinking about, but because, over the years, they feel they have been lied to persistently. The history of Heathrow is a history of broken promises.

From day one, Heathrow was mired in deception. The aviation industry knew that Churchill's wartime cabinet would never approve of Heathrow - then largely fertile market gardening territory - replacing Croydon as London 's airport. So, in conjunction with Harold Balfour, the Aviation Minister of the day, they sold a new Heathrow Airport as necessary for the war effort. Yet no military aircraft has ever used Heathrow. Many years later in his memoirs Balfour wrote: "I plead guilty to the lesser crime of deceiving a Cabinet Committee."

Fast-forward to 1980. When the Government gave the go ahead to Terminal 4 that year, it agreed that the terminal should be the last major development at Heathrow. Lord Trefargne, the Aviation Minister, said, "The Government conclude that the idea of a Fifth Terminal at Heathrow and a second runway at Gatwick should not be pursued. This effectively limits expansion at these airports." The Government also imposed a cap on flight numbers using the airport each year of 275,000.

By the time T4 opened in 1986, the cap had already been exceeded - 330,000 flights used the airport.

And in the 1990s BAA came back with plans for a fifth terminal. During the record-breaking Public Inquiry into T5, BAA promised it would not lead to a 3rd runway. This extract from their own newspaper, Heathrow News in 1995, couldn't have been clearer: "BAA has said repeatedly THERE WILL BE NO THIRD RUNWAY" (their capitals).

It even had the nerve to go on: "For months now BAA has been accused by highly vocal, yet minority groups such as HACAN, of not telling the truth about a third runway. BAA has said repeatedly Terminal 5 did not require and would not lead to a third runway. What now of those who claimed BAA was not telling the truth? Will they perhaps show a little humility and accept that the company does listen?"

Within 9 months of Terminal 5 being given the go-ahead in 2001, the Government, with the apparent support of BAA, was producing proposals for a third runway.

The Government also, when granting permission for T5, imposed a cap on the number of planes using the airport. Now it is about to consult on plans for a 3rd runway, a 6th terminal and a significant increase on the number of planes using the existing runways. The Government has admitted that aircraft numbers would rise to 800,000 a year if all these plans went ahead.

No wonder local people feel deceived. Many of them have been campaigning for decades. They feel their efforts have only met with limited success. That's why they were at the Climate Camp. They are aware that direct action needs to be part of the campaigning mix. They now know that behind BAA's velvet glove of community involvement lies any iron fist determined to pull every trick to get expansion. They have lost all faith in the Government.