Dear Nigel,
It was good to have an opportunity to share a platform with you on Friday evening at the Leigh Town Council public meeting and I hope you will agree that such meetings are very helpful to the public in terms of getting at the facts behind the spin presented by the airport. It would be good if Southend Borough Council were to host a few such events prior to the Development Control Committee’s meeting, which I note has now been moved to February.
The extension of the “Standard Consultations” deadline to 1st December is a welcome move and I would be interested to hear the reason for this change.
My main reason for writing is to check the veracity of some statements attributed to you in the Echo as they appear to be at odds with the situation we currently find ourselves in.
In the Echo of 23rd June we have:
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NO decisions will be made about the airport expansion, until the results of the joint area action plan are known, council leader Nigel Holdcroft has said.
…
“You could suggest the airport is anxious to keep the pressure on the council to make some decision on its proposals. However, we have not yet fully analysed the results of the Joint Area Action Plan consultation which has put forward options for the airport’s future.
“It is an extremely complex issue and we cannot take a decision quickly without looking closely at all the issues involved.”
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http://www.echo-news.co.uk/news/local_news/southend/4452482.Airport_plan__Demolish_church_wall_and_cottages/
Clearly the results of the JAAP are a long way off as the process has been suspended while a planning application to extend the runway is dealt with. This planning application will determine the most significant and controversial element of the JAAP without even the full report into the second phase of consultation being published, which as we know from SAEN’s Freedom of Information battle with Rochford Council will show that over three quarters of respondents object to both the runway extension and the JAAP as a whole.
Are we to take it from your June statement that the Development Control Committee is to defer its decision on the planning application until after the JAAP process has been concluded? If not, an explanation for this change of policy is required.
You also state in the Echo on 21st September:
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“Since there has already been a preliminary inquiry, then I would expect an application to be coming forward soon.
“Inevitably, whatever the decision made by the development control committee, the application will have to go to a public inquiry.”
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http://www.echo-news.co.uk/news/local_news/4638219.Runway_plan_imminent_for_Southend_Airport/
Could you explain what “preliminary inquiry” you were referring to in your statement above?
Clearly you were expecting the planning application to be submitted prior to the conclusion of the JAAP at this point. Given that the JAAP process involves an Examination in Public presided over by an independent Planning Inspector, surely this rigorous testing of the JAAP as a whole would be desirable prior to the determination of individual elements of the Plan (i.e. the runway extension).
While we’re on the subject of prior determination, I note that Rob Tinlin raises this as a potential problem in an email in early October, before the planning application had been submitted. How is it that the suspension of the JAAP avoids this issue given that the Preferred Options document makes it quite clear that both Southend and Rochford Councils support the extension of the runway at Southend Airport. Clearly this is a major element of the JAAP and would feature in the final document to be examined in public before being submitted to the Secretary of State. By taking this element out of the JAAP, the people of Southend and Rochford (and any other interested parties) are being deprived of an opportunity to examine these proposals in detail at the planning policy stage.
As he told the public on Friday, Cllr Alan Crystall will not be able to take part in the Development Control Committee meeting examining the airport’s planning application. Are any other DCC members currently barred from taking part? I have heard that some are. I know, for example, that Cllr Gwen Horrigan has shown clear support for the runway extension at public meetings in the recent past. Are barred members replaced by other Councillors or are their seats left empty? As these are procedural matters on which you will hold records, I should point out that the requests in this paragraph are made under the Freedom of Information Act and I look forward to your response within 20 working days.
Regards,
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Denis Walker
Press Officer, Stop Airport Extension Now
http://www.saen.org.uk/
Tags: Cllr Nigel Holdcroft, Denis Walker, SAEN, Southend Borough Council