STREETLIGHTS close to the end of the extended Southend Airport runway are being made shorter.

Air safety regulations demand the lights next to the A127, close to the RBS and Tesco roundabout in Westcliff, had to be reduced in height.

The work is part of the package of measures to get the airport ready for regular easyJet flights, due to start in April.

Already, the same shorter street lights have been installed the complete length of Nestuda Way.

This runs across the end of the runway, which needs to be 300 metres longer to accommodate the increase in business.

The move comes after residents were left outraged last month following the chopping down of seven trees along Prince Avenue, between the junctions with Exford Avenue and Dulverton Avenue. This was also to make allowances for low-flying planes.

Three more trees were pruned to comply with the Civil Aviation Authority rules.

Plus, television aerials will also have to go from homes in the flight path.

Some residents in the surrounding area have already received letters asking them to remove their aerials because of aviation regulations.

Graham Longley, leader of the Lib Dem group in Southend, said: “I honestly don’t think for a minute we are going to have a plane the level of an aerial or lamp post.

“The airport has the right to do these things in law. It is not something we can do a great deal about.”