I HAVE lived in Southend for over 30 years now and I have always believed that the town has tremendous potential.

During that period I also believed that we have suffered from having too many people in the town with a truly parochial mentality.

This is the main reason Southend has never become a major business hub in south Essex.

The situation with the airport expansion is a prime example. Its expansion is an opportunity to bring business, jobs and prosperity to the town and, in my view, should be an opportunity welcomed by all residents.

But no, we have the Stop Airport Expansion [Extension] Now group, which seems set in the dark ages and only concerned with its own narrow interests.

Added to this, we now have the MP for Southend West, David Amess, who seems to be more interested in taking a backward step by trying to get a few extra votes from the above mentioned group than trying to develop a bright and promising future for the town. Together they are wasting public money to revisit an issue that has already been agreed by the councils and a minister.

For goodness sake, let’s all get behind the airport expansion and put Southend firmly back on the map again.

JANICE PRICE
Hobleythick Lane, Westcliff

• Response from Derrick Weaver
• Response from George Harvey

This entry was posted on Friday, August 13th, 2010 at 9:00 am and is filed under Letters, Media, Southend Standard. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.