If Miss K Baxter is so concerned about developments at Southend Airport, why has it taken so long for her to wield the mighty pen in defence of Leigh?
Miss Baxter seems to have added nothing new to the debate and churns out hte same old last week to write a letter of complaint to the press.
I don’t know how old Miss K Baxter is, but if she had been old enough to remember the Hurricanes, Spitfires and Blenhein bombers ‘crashing in and out of the airfield from dawn to dusk’ in defence of Essex, I don’t think she would have considered complaining then.
If Miss Baxter wanted to be taken seriously she should have avoided using such overdramatic language in her letter.
At best, Southend could only be considered as a regional airport; and even then with the short runway extension, only relatively small passenger aircraft – and not necessarily jets – will be able to land there. This would never be another Stanstead.
How about this one:- “the air fills with fumes”.
Miss Baxter, do you know how many road vehicles pass through the streets of Leigh every day belching fumes?
Or this:- “Putting our children, friends and neighbours’ lives at risk”:
Miss Baxter, when was the last resident of Leigh killed on the ground as a result of commercial aircraft using Southend Airport?
Don’t bother to look it up; it was on May 3, 1967 – 43 years ago – not a bad record you must agree – now ask yourself how many people have been killed on the roads of Leigh in the same period?
Southend Airport needs to be utilised more to survive. If this does not happen, it would be an ideal spot to build a large housing estate and think of the disruption to Leigh’s ‘quaint charm and tranquility’ this would case – more roads, more cars, more congestion, crowded schools and hospitals – need I go on?
Finally, Miss Baxter, the airfield has been in operation since 1914 and there are probably few people now living in Leigh who were there before the airfield was built.
One question no protester ever seems to be able to answer is: If residents were aware of the airfield and that they would be under or near a flight path if they moved to Leigh, why did they move there?
Brian Fry, Sparrows Herne,
Basildon
[...] WOULD like to reply to Mr Fry’s letter (YA 21/04/10) and must say I found his comments quite [...]
[...] MR Fry should stop comparing apples to oranges if he wants to make any sense. Surely flying freight and passengers in and out of Southend airport to make profit pales into insignificance against flying fighter aircraft to defend the country’s freedom in World War Two. [...]