PRESS RELEASE
For immediate release
3rd November 2009
COUNCIL FORCED TO REVEAL AIRPORT OPPOSITION FIGURES
After intervention by the Information Commissioner, Rochford District Council have been told to publish the results of Stage 2 of the Joint Area Action Plan relating to the expansion of Southend Airport.
Initially Shaun Scrutton, the Head of Planning from Rochford DC, had refused to release the information on the grounds that “it was not in the public interest”. However, after representations from SAEN, the Council will now have to reveal the extent of the public opposition to the scheme. Unofficial assessments by SAEN have revealed that the on-line responses were 80% opposed to airport expansion. It is expected that the written opposition will be similarly overwhelming, but this is the information that Mr. Scrutton wanted to keep quiet.
“Obviously we are pleased that the Council has had to reveal this information,” said Kiti Theobald, the SAEN Chairman, “but this episode reveals what a grubby process the Council have allowed themselves to become embroiled in. Telling the public that it’s not in their interests to know collectively what their views are on an issue is something taken straight from the Afghan School of Democracy, but I’m afraid that this is what we’ve come to expect from Rochford and Southend Councils where the airport is concerned.”
There is a planning application currently open for which objections need to be submitted by 20th November. http://saen.org.uk/planningapp.
ENDS
Notes to Editors:
SAEN was formed to campaign against the runway extension at Southend Airport. The group is not opposed to the Airport itself, which has co-existed with the residents of Southend for many years. SAEN is against the runway extension, which would lead to a massive increase in flights and destroy the lives of the people living, working or going to school anywhere near the flightpath.
Website: http://saen.org.uk/
Tags: Freedom of Information, Rochford District Council, SAEN