Archive for the ‘Letters’ Category

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Airport Questions

Tuesday, September 7th, 2010

From: John Beckett, Woodcutters Avenue, Leigh

I fully agree with Peter Wexham in his recent article that Southend Council did not listen to residents’ concerns on the expansion of Southend Airport and its runway extension.

It is still very unclear what sort of planes will come under the restrictions, agreed by the council and Stobart Group, especially for night flights.

Also, with so many holiday companies going bust, with passengers left in the lurch abroad, how many holiday companies will risk coming to Southend Airport only to lose money and go bust themselves.

I really think Southend Council were conned into signing up with the Stobart Group*, and I don’t think they realise how it will affect the lives of so many people, especially in the Leigh and Belfairs area.

I have also read that freight aircraft flights have greatly increased at Stansted Airport – so it is obvious that the Stobart Group, being a freight company, will also see Southend Airport as a large freight area to exploit.

I hate to think of what could happen in the future to the nice area we live in Leigh and Belfairs with large freight aircraft overhead.

* Note from SAEN: The council actually left themselves with no choice about who would buy the airport lease due to the gross negligence they displayed when selling the lease to RAL in 1994 for one pound. While the lease itself was not allowed to be sold without the Council’s approval, it had been sold not directly to Regional Airports Limited (RAL), but to the London Southend Airport Company (LSAC) which was a wholly-owned subsidiary of RAL. This meant that when RAL wanted to dispose of the airport, they merely had to sell LSAC to someone else. On paper, therefore, the owner has not changed and RAL waltzed off with the full sale price which morally should have come back to the council. Coincidentally(?), the total sale price was almost exactly the same as the amount of taxpayers’ money the Council has ploughed into the airport since the 1980s.

Posted in Leigh Times, Letters, Media | No Comments »

Noise, congestion and pollution

Friday, August 27th, 2010

JANICE Price (Aug 13) may look forward to the airport expansion, that is her prerogative, but there must be thousands of residents who do not agree, and she does not speak for the community, thank goodness.

I ran a business in “a major business hub town”, (her words) and on retirement I looked for, and found a retirement home in Southend.

I found peace and tranquility, away from the hustle and bustle of business hub towns and most of my neighbours share my views.

There is no doubt airports bring noise, congestion and pollution, particularly on take-off. I know Southend has always had an airfield, and light aircraft are often seen over Southend, but to compare this with a major airport is being really naïve.

I compliment Southend West MP David Amess for looking after our welfare, and I hope he will be able to help us retain this “oasis in a busy world”, which we call Southend.

Finally, it will provide jobs, but for whom, will these jobs go to Southend residents? Prosperity goes to the entrepreneurs, not necessarily to the residents. We should have a public inquiry, so that every one can have his or her say.

DERRICK WEAVER
The Broadway
Thorpe Bay

Posted in Letters, Media, Southend Standard | No Comments »

Expanding the airport will do nothing for Southend

Friday, August 27th, 2010

JANICE Price voices an opinion on Southend Airport’s expansion that will have its supporters, but her voice is not shared by all.

She mentions the town’s failure to flourish because of a parochial mentality. Well, this mentality had no influence over industry that had previously flourished in the area, but has sadly gone because it failed to compete in the world at large.

There is little to attract business to Southend as there are so many empty shops, industrial units looking for tenants and unsold buildings and development sites.

Expanding the airport will do nothing for these, or, in fact, tourism.

Her reference to the dark ages is in some ways rather apt as repression has often been followed by revolt.

Southend Council, through its repressive behaviour, now has a revolt on hits hands, or at least concerned residents are showing democracy has not yet died.

G E HARVEY
North Crescent, Prittlewell

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Posted in Letters, Media, Southend Standard | No Comments »

The noise is horrendous

Tuesday, August 24th, 2010

Do the advocates of an extended airport at Southend know what this means?

As I write, a single helicopter is circling Westcliff.

The noise is horrendous.

Imagine regular flights day and night into Southend Airport.

Can we learn nothing from the battle against a third runway at Heathrow?

Same old story – business before people.

Ralph Walker
Holland Road
Westcliff

Posted in Echo, Letters, Media | No Comments »

‘Airport expansion a big opportunity’

Friday, August 13th, 2010

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

Posted in Letters, Media, Southend Standard | 1 Comment »

Against Airport Plans

Tuesday, August 10th, 2010

From: Graham Whitehead, director of SAEN

I have just listened to the interview with Denis from SAEN on Radio Essex this morning.

I agree with Denis that the Extension of the runway would allow even larger, heavier jets to use the airport. The noise that these jets make will really affect the houses & schools under the flight path.

With the runway extension, some of these heavy jets, whether passenger, freight or mixed, could be as low as 77 feet above some of the expensive houses in Leigh-on-Sea. Of course, as the airport operates 24 hours, this will be day and night.

They do say they will restrict night flights, but the restrictions only apply to some types of planes and those not covered are still very noisy. I believe that the majority of the current night flights would not be covered by these restrictions.

It is good to hear that David Amess also backs SAEN in their campaign to get the planning permission quashed.

As he said on the radio: “Had there been a different government in power, it is very likely that a public inquiry would have taken place” (not a direct quote, I cannot write that fast). Instead it appears that the Minister’s desk was cleared with understandable haste when the election was announced.

So I am not accused of trying to hide my identity I am one of the directors of SAEN Ltd and an active campaigner against the runway extension.

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Posted in Leigh Times, Letters, Media | No Comments »

Airport review is good news

Friday, August 6th, 2010

The pending judicial review into Southend Airport’s expansion represents the best good news story in a very long while (July 29).

The vast majority of respondents to Rochford and Southend councils’ “consultation” exercise can now take heart that this ill-conceived decision will at last be subjected to an informed legal test.

There are many reasons why this development must be brought to a halt.

Principally, of course, is the need to exert control over the ever-increasing contribution from the airline industry of CO2 emissions because of its growing impact on a warming climate and everything that entails.

At local level we can well do without extra congestion on our roads and the increased noise pollution (especially at night) which would be so damaging to so many people in our area.

Our councillors need to be disabused of their naive trust in an economic dividend derived from expansion.

In fact, their woolly thinking seems to have been unduly influenced by a misplaced belief in the spurious link with the Olympics, but that is unlikely to bequeath a lasting economic legacy to compensate for ruined quality of life.

Douglas Copping
South East Essex Green Party
Roche Close
Rochford

Posted in Echo, Letters, Media | No Comments »

Irresponsible to hope that “aviation industry bounces back”

Thursday, June 17th, 2010

by Denis Walker

It’s obviously sad news that ATC Lasham employees have lost their jobs (reported in the Echo on Tue 15th June), and I’m sure all SAEN members offer their sympathy.

However, the Echo’s claim that any suggestion that the expansion of the airport is in question is “probably unfounded” should not go unchallenged. Firstly for the sloppy journalism it demonstrates: we are working entirely with hypotheticals here and the Echo has not bothered to find out what impact the expansion of the airport would have on the local economy. They are in the position to ask the airport to give specific examples of how the airport expansion would benefit us locally and have failed to do so.

In fact, the whole case for the expansion of the airport is based on unfounded aspirations. Given the huge costs an expansion would bring – the loss of Eastwoodbury Lane, more congestion on the A127 and the inevitable disruption caused by frequent low-flying aircraft – the public has a right to rather more justification than a flimsy promise of unspecified benefits to the local economy and a nebulous promise of jobs.

Blaming the Icelandic volcano for the loss of jobs at ATC Lasham is simply nonsensical – if anything it should have led to an increase in jobs as jet engines which have ingested ash will need to be overhauled.

It is time that we realised that relying on an unsustainable industry that causes disproportionate environmental pollution to rejuvenate our economy is unwise in the extreme. ATC Lasham staff could be retrained to manufacture renewable energy technologies, such as wind turbine blades and be guaranteed a far more stable job.

Asking us to hope that the “aviation industry bounces back” when oil production is expected to peak this decade is frankly irresponsible. We need to save the remaining oil for the most important uses, such as food production instead of extravagantly burning it in aircraft engines to send people on weekend breaks in European cities they could reach by train.

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Where is information from?

Wednesday, May 5th, 2010

Re: Mr Knightley’s letter regarding Southend Airport. Could the gentleman inform us all which website he got his info from regarding the freight flights every 15 minutes, as I for one would like to see what else it contains. *

Southend, by definition, is a regional airport. In size terms it would fit into a corner of either Heathrow or Gatwick. So there is no way a plane with either freight, passengers or both could be dealt with as the infrastructure could not cope. **

Yes, aircraft are noisy, but nowhere near as noisy as 20 years ago. Once the plane has taken off that is. *** The real noise problems is car noise, 24 hours a day, ,seven days a week. Plus pupils being taken to school by car when they could easily walk. That with the blaring car radios. Another nuisance.

Brian Fry’s query re residents moving in then moaning is quite correct. **** I fully accept that people will have differing views on this subject. But I hate having to go to Heathrow or Gatwick, trying to use the motorways when I could and should be allowed to fly from my local airport. *****

After all, it was possible from the early days until the early 1980s.

Colin Paynter, Connaught
Gardens, Shoeburyness.

* Mr Knightley didn’t refer to any websites in his letter, so we take this to be an oblique reference to our website. However, we provide evidence that flights are likely to be more frequent than every 15 minutes at peak times.

** Mr Paynter seems to be unaware that this is exactly what Stobart propose.

*** We invite Mr Paynter to watch Stobart’s video showing the 90dB noise contour for three jets using the runway at Southend airport.

**** Apart from being totally wrong. See June Carr’s response on this issue.

***** Now we come down to it – a selfish expectation of a right to fly, overriding the right of others to enjoy a life uninterrupted by constant aircraft noise.

Posted in Letters, Media, Yellow Advertiser | No Comments »

Comparing apples with oranges

Wednesday, May 5th, 2010

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.

And yes, traffic fumes are bad in Leigh and Southend due to the already congested roads, but increasing that traffic and adding more aircraft can only make the pollution worse, so what exactly is his point?

Comparing the number of fatalities on the road to those linked to the airport is ridiculous. The number of people involved in road journeys versus those made in aircraft is millions of times greater, making the comparison meaningless. Statistically, air travel is safer than road travel, but aircraft crashes do happen and this is a densely populated area. Mr Fry also seems to have forgotten that a light aircraft crashed into Eastwood Park, killing the pilot in 2006. The crash happened in the afternoon in an area close to housing, schools and busy traffic on the A127. Imagine the fuel laden jet coming down in those circumstances.

Finally Mr Fry, people moved to Leigh because it has actually retained some of its original charm and characer, unlike the surrounding area which has been modernised to oblivion. No one reasonably would have expected a plan to vastly increase the amount of traffic flying out of the airport in an area with infrastructure so poorly suited to supporting it, frankly the idea makes about as much sense as his letter.

Mr K Cutts, Manchester
Drive, Leigh.

Posted in Letters, Media, Yellow Advertiser | No Comments »

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