A 17-member planning committee, 14 of who are Conservatives, cannot possibly reflect the opinion of all those affected by Southend Airport runway extension proposal.
The consultation exercise was flawed. Neither is it a democratically constituted committee in my opinion.
On an issue of such a seriously environmentally damaging proposal, the airport runway extension should have been voted on by all 51 council members.
It therefore fully justifies the referall of the scheme to the Communities Minister, John Denham.
Perhaps John Denham, a Labour Minister, will now give some representation to local members of his party who were denied a vote, for or against, and, by so doing, redress the political imbalance on our Council.
S Askham
Elmsleigh Drive
Leigh
…I can not, for the life of me, think what the Tories were thinking of when they voted for the extension of Southend Airport.
They took a vote on the airport apparently completely forgetting voting is supposed to echo what the majority were voting for – not just those with a seat on a council.
It isn’t democracy when three quarters of the voting public were against the airport, but were overruled by the dozen or so glory boys.
Democracy must be seen to work,otherwise England will become like their partners in the EU, ruled by the haves and not at all by the have nots.
The councils involved do not deserve re-election.
Shame on the Tories who represent us and seemingly think very little of our concerns.
Shame on the rest who voted with them.
They knew what residents wanted.
I just hope, come the next election, people who feel aggrieved by what has happened will remember this travesty executed in our name.
B R Rudlin
Richmond Drive
Rayleigh
…I, and many people I know, are becoming tired of reading about Alastair Welch’s plans for the airport.
Having personally listened to quite a few of his presentations, I am sure he would make a good double glazing salesman, as he is intent on selling us something we do not want or need.
He keeps quoting the Olympics as a priority, but this will come a go in a flash. What then?
The airport is a thriving business today, just have a look at the aircraft queuing up to be serviced, and the increased movements taking place.
I am convinced the Stobart Group just want to promote this airport expansion to support their freight business, which by the way is booming, up 24.2 per cent.
Southend Airport is surrounded by residential housing and increased jet flights night and day will be intolerable and may even increase the safety risk.
Mike Allchorne
Anne Boleyn Drive
Rochford
…Your correspondent commented Eastwood wasn’t represented at the Airport Planning meeting.
Just because we are not on the Development Control Committee does not mean that we are not interested or indeed involved in the work.
Having read carefully all the paperwork which was provided, I then raised with officers any concerns I had and pointed out any omissions.
I took part in the site visit on the morning of the development control meeting.
I was precluded from attending in the afternoon by a prior engagement, but I was clear in my mind the best had been done for the residents of Eastwood.
Just because our names do not appear on a particular list, do not assume we are not there or at least have not put our points of view forward.
Cllr Chris Walker
Eastwood Ward
…We need a public inquiry into Southend airport.
At the planning hearing on the January 20, only one of the 44 people wishing to speak was allowed to, and then for only three minutes.
That was not enough time for residents to air their concerns or highlight the gaps in the report from a local point of view.
Lib Dem councillor Godwin raised concerns about the Bell junction and inadequate parking facilities at the airport. He said the expected 1.5million passenger car journeys to and from the site, airport staff and support vehicles, would create an impossible situation.
He also raised concerns about increased Co2 emissions.
The panel of experts confirmed they knew nothing about the parking and agreed the Co2 emissions would increase.
Surely this needs to be looked into before giving the go-ahead?
Ted Lewin mentioned concerns about night flights and tabled a motion for the airport to be closed between midnight and 6am.
The chairman, Brian Kelly, persuaded him to withdraw the motion, saying Stobart would not keep the airport open in an emergency unless they were allowed to keep commercial flights throughout the night.
Other airports have no night flights. They must have emergency arrangements.
This needs to be looked into.
Lib Dem member Michael Grimwade pointed out there were a lot of schools in the Leigh area and education could suffer from noisy flights every few minutes. The impact of noise on our children’s education needs to be looked into before giving the goahead.
The report looked at flights landing from and taking off to the south west, yet there is supposed to be more than 50 per cent landing from and taking off to the north east. The impact needs to be looked into.
Rochford Road cannot cope with the expected extra car journeys. Traffic jams could block the A127.
If people find it difficult get in or out of Southend they will go elsewhere, resulting in a loss of jobs.
M Bowles
Woodside
Leigh
