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SAEN letter to the Daily Mail

Saturday, July 9th, 2011

Information on the EasyJet pertinent to the recent announcement of flights to / from Southend Airport by EasyJet

EasyJet’s recent announcement on flights to/from Stobart’s Southend Airport was a political move by both parties. Stobart want to pressure the Government into bringing in the result of the Public Inquiry to approve the closure of Eastwoodbury Lane, which runs across the current end of the runway. While EasyJet want to lean on Stansted and Luton to lower their landing charges.

The extension to the runway is by no means a done deal. Even if the remaining legal decisions all go in the airport’s favour, they’re not going to get them until October at the earliest. This will be cutting it fine to lay the concrete before there’s a risk of frosts. If we reach that point, they’ll have to wait until the spring to do the work. We’re not expecting to hear from the Secretary of State for Transport on the road closure until September and there’s still a Public Inquiry pending on the permanent closure of a section of Public Footpath. No date has even been announced for that yet. Also the matter of the appeal against the decision to refuse a Judicial Review into the planning application itself, this is currently set for October.

In addition there is also the matter of the petition before the European Union brought by the local MP David Amess.

The planes EasyJet plan to use are Airbus A319s, which would need the extended runway to use Southend Airport when passengers are on board – they can come in and out now as long as they are empty. These are the older variations of the Airbus, which, we understand, are less fuel economic than A320s. These form majority of their current fleet & are the only planes they have options to buy, which have a greater seating capacity. The A320s would not be able to operate at maximum capacity from Southend, even with the proposed extended runway length. I would think it is doubtful that they will be able to use the A319 planes for the full 10 years of the agreement. It is difficult to imagine which planes they intend to use for the remainder of the 10 years when the A319s are considered uneconomic or too old to fly.

Details of the deal are sketchy, but our understanding is that they intend to fly 800,000 passengers a year with 150 staff working from Southend. Many of these will be the flight crews and almost all will already be employed at either Luton or Stansted. The one favour this announcement has done us is to prove us right on the economic arguments. Southend Council accepted everything the airport said without question and so they are expecting 1130 jobs to be created at the airport when it appears that they’ll be lucky to reach 400 – and that’s even if they do manage to persuade two million people a year to fly from Southend.

It is often quoted that Stobart “invested their own money” in Southend Airport’s development. They didn’t. They’ve borrowed heavily from banks in the Middle East to fund the expansion and this is another reason for the big noises they are making over the EasyJet announcement. Without this contract, it is likely the share price of Stobart’s would not have recently risen, which can only help them secure the continued backing from these Middle East banks.

It is our opinion, that it is fairly certain that without this continued backing; Stobart’s would be hard put to continue their operations at Southend Airport.

In addition, they have had significant contributions from Southend Council towards various parts of the development – over a million pounds each towards the station and air traffic control tower, for example. These are reported in the press as Stobart funded, when they are first being built, but it is never commented on that the council then refund great chunks of this funding. Over all, since Southend Council sold the airport to RAL for one pound in 1994, Southend taxpayers have subsidised the airport in so many ways, we’ve not been able to produce a single all-inclusive figure. It’s certainly well over £10m and probably nearer £20m.

This is the same council & councillors that have consistently told the residents that the new runway extension will mean the planes will fly higher over the houses & schools. We kept saying this can not be, but they shout louder to the press than we can. Now, Stobarts have started installing shorter lampposts & telegraph poles in the roads near the proposed runway extension & we understand that certain trees will also be cut shorter. Because the planes will fly higher? I don’t think so. But the council always believe anything that Stobart tell them.

Carlisle Council used to be the same, but now they commission independent experts to verify claims made by Stobart’s in their new planning application for expansion of the Carlisle Airport. We understand that the report cast doubt over the job forecasts & the financial viability of the flights to/from Southend.

This is a new application because the previous application that they passed, was overturned at a Judicial Review. I currently have an application to pursue a Judicial Review over the planning permission granted for the extension to the runway at Southend.

Graham Whitehead
Chairman SAEN (Stop Airport Extension Now)
Rochford
Essex

Posted in Daily Mail, Letters, Media | No Comments »

Incensed by Holdcroft

Saturday, July 9th, 2011

Dear Cllr. Holdcroft,

I am a resident who lives in Rochford where the airport is literally down the road from where we live. I never respond to radio programmes if I hear anything that I have a strong opinion about but today I listened on the I-player to Dave Monk’s programme that was broadcast yesterday, Friday 8th July where you was answering people’s questions about Southend etc.

The subject of the airport was being discussed and in amongst your answers that gave us no reassurance whatsoever when it came to noise, pollution and disruption etc, you was then asked about which direction these jet aircraft were going to be taking off and flying over? In order for you to be able to reassure the residents of Leigh and Southend that they will not have the problem, you stated in an emphatic, almost cavalier way that they didn’t have to worry because it was only Rochford they would be flying over. HOW DARE YOU!! I actually shouted these words “at you” when I heard this disgusting answer that you gave as if it was perfectly ok for the thousands of people in Rochford to suffer the awful effects of what this soon-to-be major airport is going to have on our lives and as long as your constituents in the surrounding areas are alright, then who cares about the people of Rochford?!!! Apart from the fact that the people of Leigh and Southend will DEFINITELY suffer the noise and disruption because the traffic jams they will be sitting in will be reflective of the extra cars that will be coming in and out of Southend, you showed NO regard of what the residents of Rochford will go through.

If we wanted to sell our house to try to escape this future nightmare, we cant. There are countless properties up for sale now with residents trying to move away and these properties are not selling because who would want to move right near a major airport? In addition to this, all our properties have now decreased substantially in value because of the airport so most of us can’t afford to move anyway. When it comes to the noise we will have to suffer, we live in a double-glazed bungalow. I had a very important telephone call a few evenings ago and at the same time I suddenly heard a huge noise which knocked out the voice I was trying to hear on the other end. I realised it was a jet aircraft taking off on the runway at the end of our road and I could not hear a thing on the phone. I tried to move to other rooms in our home in order to hear what was being said to me and I gave up and asked if I could phone back when the noise had stopped. This is just ONE aircraft taking off. How do you think it is going to be when we have at least a HUNDRED aircraft taking off and landing every week?!!

You have shown NO sign of any consideration of what quality of life thousands of us residents of Rochford will have when this profit-making enterprise for Stobarts is put into action. Please don’t quote to us what it will do for Southend etc. There ARE no thousands of jobs to be had and all the lies that are quoted of what good it will do for the people of Southend etc. Whilst there is Stansted, there is no reason for people from outer areas to flock down to an airport to get a flight that they will find themselves late for because they have had to queue on roads coming in to Southend because of the traffic jams. It only takes a busy time at Argos on the trading estate nearby, especially at Christmas, for the roundabout near the airport to be totally gridlocked. On a Friday, when its dustbin collection, I have to queue to get out of Rochford to get to work. In fact, I have to leave earlier in order not to be late, because I know there will be long queues. This is WITHOUT the extra traffic.

You, Mr. Holdcroft, is the Councillor for Southend. You and your family, Mr. Holdcroft, do not live in Rochford. Is it any wonder that you have no problem with having a major airport operating where it will NOT affect you, your family or YOUR quality of life? Never mind the pollution for the young children playing in the school playground or parks with the smell and taste of kerosene that we have had to endure when the jets take off. Never mind the sudden noise that the elderly are having to suffer the shock of when they are asleep at night or even during the day. Never mind that there are thousands of homes that surround the airport whereas at other major airports there is only green belt that surrounds them. But never mind, it doesn’t affect YOU. So why should you care about US?!!! Could that be because I can not even vote you out of any elections & Rochford seats are Tory safe seats, so we don’t matter?

Although my husband is the chairman of SAEN, I must point out that these are entirely my own opinions & I am only writing because I am so incensed over the broadcast.

Mrs Dena Whitehead, Rochford

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Overwhelming opposition to the airport’s expansion

Friday, May 13th, 2011

I TAKE exception to the Echo’s Comment on Southend Airport (May 9).

Residents who live in the Southend West constituency are overwhelmingly opposed to the extension of the runway at the airport.

This is a fact proved by the result of the consultation exercise. It was a flawed and inadequate consultation, but it was the only one available, apart from local surveys carried out by Peter Welch.

The assertion that the CAA claims that the church wall must be removed is questionable. The fact is that the majority of contact between Southend Council and the CAA has been by phone, with very little in writing.

This in itself is an appalling example of an unprofessional approach to an important matter which could affect the whole town.

The planning application from Stobarts makes many claims, which the local authority appears to simply accept, and the Echo appears to endorse without question.

Stobart’s claimed ambitions for the airfield are totally unrealistic, given that most frequent flyers are happy to use Stansted or Gatwick. As it is, Stansted is a struggling airport which has plenty of capacity.

All means will be used to thwart this runway extension by residents in the interest of the whole town. The South East of England does not need more airport expansion.

BOB HOWES
Brightwell Avenue, Westcliff

Posted in Echo, Letters, Media | 1 Comment »

We need airport answers

Wednesday, May 11th, 2011

AT every twist and turn of the airport debate, pro-expansion councillors have refused to tackle the points raised by objectors in an open an honest manner.

Time and again we have raised issued which have not been addressed.

The issue that drives me is, of course, the fear expressed by the world’s scientists that climate change will cause mass loss of human life.

Needless to say councillors refuse to explain how they can support their ‘Nottingham Declaration’, to reduce greenhouse gas emissions, yet support aviation expansion.

David Amess MP has rightly taken justified concerns about night flights to the EU, pressing the argument that a short period of uninterrupted sleep is a fundamental human right.

Councillors claim they understand residents’ views but are powerless to demand a night ban at Southend. Yet it is my understanding that not one single Southend Cabinet Member has written to the Secretary of State to support a change in UK legislation in this regard.

Interestingly, it is the false claims made regarding employment growth which leave pro-expansion councillors floundering.

The truth is that aviation is a net drain on the UK economy. Tourists departing by aviation spend more money abroad than those arriving in the UK.

In 2008, the loss to the UK economy was £19.6bn. In 2009, this reduced (due to the reduction in the value of sterling) to £15.1bn. That is equivalent to a net loss of over 600,000 jobs in the UK.

You would think that any councillor seeking to create jobs in UK tourism would do everything possible to constrain aviation and encourage more UK residents to holiday at home. But no; some openly boast they will support flights to Ireland, spending a month’s disposable income that would otherwise have gone on social activities which sustain jobs here in Southend.

In light of the intellectual and moral bankruptcy of the pro-expansion brigade, it should come as no surprise that those opposed to aviation expansion will be working over the months and years ahead to reverse the damage done by this council’s irresponsible and irrational decision.

  1. Statistical data source: Office for National Statistics: The Pink Book (no data yet for 2010)
  2. Councillors flying to Ireland:- Those who nodded in support of Graham Longley when he announced at the full council meeting that it was ‘his duty’ to support the new flights to Ireland and would be flying to Ireland forthwith.

Jon Fuller, Southend

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Mark council’s card

Tuesday, May 10th, 2011

From: J. Bramble, Leighview Drive, Leigh.

I very much hope that residents took advantage of the opportunity afforded by the local elections on May 5 to register their verdict on the performance of Southend Council.

Whilst, as we know only too well, the council can ignore the majority viewpoint expressed in a consultation exercise, they cannot but accept the results of the ballot box.

I write as a resident of Blenheim ward and my wife and I have very much enjoyed our 16 years here. However, living directly under the flight-path to/from Southend Airport, we are naturally extremely concerned at the destruction of our quality of life that will inevitably result from the huge increase in air traffic facilitated by the extension of the runway.

The ‘airport issue’ was therefore unsurprisingly the dominant local one for us and for many of our friends and neighbours in the area. I was accordingly interested to read what the various candidates for the Blenheim ward said on the subject in their campaign literature and I would urge eery other Blenheim resident to do so; it is a most enlightening experience.

In his pamphlet Coun Clinkscales (Liberal Democrat), who was seeking re-election, obviously decided that the airport issue didn’t even warrant a mention – not one word!

For his part the would-be Conservative councillor, James Courtenay, did not shy away from the issue but had the effrontery to infer that the decision to approve the runway extension was taken out of concern for the residents of Blenheim!

It is undeniable that ‘no night flights’, if indeed this does materialise [it won't - the council and airport have agreed to 120 night flights a month], will be most welcome, but of course, there remains the other 16 or so hours of the day when planes are likely to pass low over the rooftops of houses and schools every ten minutes or so.

How precisely I wonder will Mr Courtenay, to use his own words, “ensure that the residents of Blenheim are protected” during this daily 16-hour period?

To conclude, how can the residents of Blenheim have any confidence in either of the two parties who have traditionally dominated the voting in this area – one which simply pretends that the airport doesn’t exist, the other which was pressured into carrying out a consultation exercise on it but, at the end of the day, had no compunction at all in disregarding the majority viewpoint expressed in the exercise?

However there did seem to be a chink of light in the third election pamphlet we have received – from Tino Callaghan who was representing UKIP.

He promised “straight talking” and “to work for an independent Southend” with locally binding referendums [referenda] on major local planning issues. Sadly, too late for the airport, but still a welcome breath of fresh air from someone who at least merited being given an opportunity to put his laudable aims into practice.

He can hardly do worse than the two main parties who may represent the area of Blenheim, but manifestly not the interests of the people living in that area!

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Trains on go-slow

Tuesday, April 12th, 2011

CAN Southend Airport operator, Stobart, Network Rail or National Express explain why trains either stop at the airport station, run slow between Prittlewell and Rochford, or stand at Rochford awaiting departure if they are not timetabled to stop at the airport? Can any of these companies confirm it has nothing to do with who gets what share of revenye taken at the airport station?

BRIAN WOODHAM
Tickfield Avenue
Southend

Posted in Echo, Letters, Media | 1 Comment »

Where will planes fly?

Thursday, March 24th, 2011

It appears Southend and Rochford councils and the rest seem to have forgotten to ask who exactly these aircraft from the expanded airport will be passing over.

Where on earth do they think these heavy planes will travel in order to avoid towns and villages under wherever it is they are going?

I live near to Rayleigh Weir and sometimes the noise from cars and lorries is appalling.

So far, Southend Council and its cohorts seem to be calling the shots regarding anything. I can’t imagine what sort of representation it made to the Government for permission to enlarge the airport.

I suppose by now I should know I cannot trust those whom we have placed in these positions ever again.

B Rudlin
Richmond Drive
Rayleigh

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New problem for airport?

Tuesday, March 22nd, 2011

THE upward-sloping piece of land Southend Council wishes to use to extend the runway of Southend Airport is a safety measure the authority appears to have forgotten.

The piece of land, 300 yards long and higher at the far end by at least 20 feet, has been undeveloped for more than 50 years. It is treeless and mainly soft.

All concrete runways have a 30-feet high ramp made of large pebbles as a safety measure to bring planes safely to a halt in the event of a problem.

If the airport runway is extended, the safety area will go and any planes in trouble will run into the houses at the end.

That safety area has never had to be used in all the years of the airport’s existence, but that is what the raised area of treeless earth is there for.

J FRANCIS
Clay Hill Road, Basildon

Posted in Echo, Letters, Media | 2 Comments »

Airport concerns have never been listened too

Friday, March 11th, 2011

SOME Southend councillors are saying they hope the public inquiry into the diversion of Eastwoodbury Lane, near the airport, doesn’t hold things up.

All I can say is that it’s a little thing called democracy. The concerns of residents living in belfairs and parts of Leigh have never been listened to properly.

I wonder what these councillors would say if they had their children attending Blenheim School which is right under the flight path.

I wonder what residents in Belfairs and parts of Leigh think if there are more night flights? These people are the ones who will be directly affected by the runway extension.

When people compare Southampton Airport and how well it’s doing, they don’t tell you the airport is not in a densely populated area like Southend Airport is, and it does not have night flights. [SAEN note: it is permitted up to ten a month for emergencies but has no scheduled night flights.]

JOHN BECKETT
Woodcutters Avenue, Leigh

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Airport road hits brick wall

Friday, March 11th, 2011

THE headline “Airport road hits legal pothole” (Feb 28) is wrong.

It has hit a predictable brick wall. Southend Council has never had the authority to permanently stop up a section of Eastwoodbury Lane, as it is an ancient public right of way.

The High Court forbade Bradford Bury from doing so in the past and it is likely the pending inquiry will do the same for the airport.

It is proposed the runway be raised on an embankment and that an approach glide angle steeper than the recommended three degrees be employed to give barely acceptable clearance to vehicles on Nestuda Way. The CAA has yet to approve this and may not.

The clear and graded are for the proposed extended runway in which no obstructions are permitted, would pass through a graveyard.

Not only would a section of boundary wall need to be demolished, over 50 graves, most with headstones higher than the wall, would need to be bulldozed. This would include the graves of two children and interments as recent as 2003.

The permission of the Graves Commission would be needed and this is unlikely. If a proper public inquiry had been held in the first place a lot of unnecessary expenditure could have been avoided.

B J FREE
Eastwoodbury Lane
Southend

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