Night and day Heathrow Airport valet parking gets green light in Staines
A 400-space Heathrow Airport valet service running through the night will continue out of the former British Gas headquarters site in Staines for a further three years after planning permission was granted.
The Causeway site had originally been given the right to be used for 441 spaces just six months ago and this application acts as an extension, albeit at a slightly reduced capacity.
The valet service will collect and drop off cars to Heathrow with customers not accessing the site.
Concerns were raised during the September 3 planning committee at Runnymede Borough Council that it would encourage people to drive to the airport and increase carbon emissions at a time when local authorities were pushing for net zero.
These were dismissed however as the site already had permission for commuter parking – and the impact of hundreds of workers coming and going each day was likely to be larger than its new use as a long-term car park.
Officers told the meeting it had already been in operation since February and that delays in converting the empty offices into housing opened the opportunity to continue using the site for valet parking.
“Vehicles are collected from owners at the airport and driven back to and parked at the site by a member of staff.
“The cars are also driven back to the airport for collection by the owner once they have arrived back to the airport.
“Due to this operation and depending on customers flight times the car park is therefore used during daytime and night-time hours”, papers presented to the committee read.
The car park is on the former site of the British Gas headquarters in Staines which shut during the pandemic and has never reopened.
Speaking out against the plans was Councillor Isabel Mullens (Runnymede Independent Residents; Egham Town) who told the meeting it went against carbon reduction measures.
She said: “This proposal encourages people to drive to Heathrow airport which increases carbon emissions when we’re trying to decrease them.
“I didn’t support the previous application and I can’t support this one now.
“I know the number of cars being parked is dropping by 10 per cent but the time of operations is a year and a half more so I can’t support it.”