Hello All!

Thanks to our loyal band of foot soldiers, the ten thousand leaflets we had all went in three days! So we’ve had another 10,000 printed!

In the email version of this message is a full list of all the streets that have already been covered – please check down for streets near you, THEN drop me a line to offer some streets that YOU can deliver to.

There are large gaps at the moment in the Bridgwater Estate, Westcliff, the Western Approaches Estate, Eastwood, some streets in Leigh that are not covered and although we have sent about 2000 to the Rochford area, I am sure there are more houses that COULD be done there.

If you still cannot access the Planning site at Southend Civic Centre, COMPLAIN!

Complain to your councillors, complain to Anna Waite, complain to the Planning Department, (Dean Hermitage) and make sure they understand that you need to see a copy of the plan you are objecting to before you can respond to it!

A quick vote of thanks to all those who are making SAEN a memebr’s organisation. Members will be the first to know what is going on, and what strategies we may have to adopt, and your £5.00 will be put to very good use, as I am sure you know by now!

We look forward to hearing from you – All hands to the pumps!

Kiti and the SAEN committee

Hello Everyone, both members and correspondents alike!

The promised leaflets are currently in the Print Shop and should be ready for delivery to households by Thursday evening!

(For a sneak preview, have a look at http://saen.org.uk/resources/planningappleaflet.pdf )

Bad News – We are relying on all of you to deliver to at least one road near you! Good News – The weather forecast for the weekend is really good!
WE REALLY NEED TO DELIVER TEN THOUSAND IN A WEEK – CAN YOU HELP?

I realise not all of you can guarantee to deliver leaflets, but this time your input is VITAL!

In order to co-ordinate deliveries, we will need to know how many leaflets you can take, and which roads you intend to leaflet, to avoid duplication.

So while we wait for them to arrive, please e-mail me so I can start a plan of action. The sooner you take all these leaflets out on to the streets.

If you cannot deliver any, then please read the leaflet carefully, and send in your own objection to the plan. DO IT NOW!

Don’t forget also – you can now upgrade from correspondent member to full member for as little as five pounds sterling. It’s a small price to pay to have SAEN represent you in all future events and meetings, and will make a huge difference to our ability to send letters, print posters and pay the bills!

Waiting to hear from you all!

Best Regards

Kiti

Hello Everyone!

No doubt you will have already learned that the planning application for the extension of the runway has been submitted to Southend Council today. It will take a couple of days to check and verify the application, and this will be followed by discussion in Council.

The time has come when we must make our views perfectly clear. We still oppose the extension; allowing this monstrous invasion will be an affront to all who live close to the airport in terms of safety and quality of life; it will mean aircraft every few minutes, taking off or landing, creating noise and pollution, disrupting lessons in local schools and disturbing the peace in our homes and gardens.

By objecting once again to the application, in writing to the Council, your own Councillors, your MP and as many local and national papers as you can, we must push for a Public Enquiry into the proposal to extend the runway.

But first, we will need to raise funds to enable us to seek legal help in the matter of the Public Enquiry. It is not something we have ever tackled before, and is not insurmountable, but we obviously need all the help we can get, and we are not afraid to ask for it! Those present at the AGM were able to formalise their membership of SAEN by purchasing a membership card. If you were not there, you will be unaware that each membership will cost only £5.00. You will need to apply for this by post to our PO Box no (SAEN, PO Box 5909, Short Street, Southend-on-sea. SS1 1AA. Don’t forget to include your name and address, as we need somewhere to post your card to! (If you feel like making a larger donation, it will be gratefully received!) By making membership official instead of arbitrary, we will have far more clout when it comes to representing you at the public enquiry, council meetings or any other official event.

No doubt, over the next few days there will be a flurry of comments posted on the web site, and all points will be addressed as they arise. There will be another bulletin next week to keep you up to date with events. Thank you for your ongoing interest and support.

SAEN committee

Hello, All,

This is just a quick note to remind you all of the AGM for ‘Stop Airport Extension Now’ which will be held on Thursday, 1^st October at 8.15pm at Eastwood Community Centre.

We would like as many members as possible to be present to discuss some of the plans for the next part of the campaign. You can continue to help as you have done from the beginning of the organisation, or come and play a more active role as part of the committee. We still have a few places left on the main committee and may need more for a sub-committee in the coming months.

As you know, this year’s committee has been entirely voluntary, but will all be standing for election. If you would like to stand yourself, or nominate someone else, we can take nominations on the night or you can let us know via the website.

At some time during the evening, you may be asked to tell us about your own area of expertise, and how it may be exploited to help the campaign move forward. We are especially looking for people who love to do research, those who love to write, foot soldiers in the event of another leaflet drop, artists, computer experts, publicity experts, fund raisers and so on.

We would also appreciate your thoughts on improving the way SAEN is run. So please don’t stay home on the 1^st October; come and share in the first AGM!

Kiti Theobald – current chairman

Hello everyone!

Just a line to say we hope you enjoyed your holiday if you’ve had one, or that you will enjoy a holiday, if you have not done so already.

The SAEN committee is preparing for the AGM, which will take place on Thursday, 1st October, at the Eastwood Community Centre at 8.15pm.

This year’s committee was not elected, but volunteered to run the group, and I will be the first to say that they seem to have done an excellent job. The AGM is your opportunity to come and meet the small bunch of people who have been working on behalf of so many. But this is also your opportunity to think about standing yourself. We would welcome nominations from any committed person, and would welcome new ideas on the night. I promise we’ll make it as interesting and lively
as we can.

We need to think about raising more funds this year, as it is becoming increasingly obvious that we will need some kind of legal help sometime soon, as we start on Phase Three of the battle.

In the meantime, a couple of things you might like to do:-

1. Our website ( http://saen.org.uk/ ) is being updated this month; please visit and tell us what you think.
2. Write to your councillors – all three of them – to ask why an analysis of the responses to Stage Two of the consultation has not been published. The individual e-mailed responses are on the Rochford web site, but there must have been letters also, which do not seem to be included, and there must have been hand-written repsonses. We need assurance that these are also included in the final analysis. If you don’t know who your councillors are, put your postcode into http://www.writetothem.com/ and it will tell you.
3. Some of you complain to the airport about the noise of aircraft at night. Have you thought of complaining to your councillor about this also. One councillor has said that he has received NO complaints at all, so everything must be all right!
4. The airport number to complain to is 01702 608169

Regards

Kiti Theobald – chairman

It’s terrible being in the doldrums, waiting for things to happen, so a couple of tips to while away the time until things pick up again.

Firstly, we feel that all the responses to Stage Two of the Consultation must have been counted by now; after all, the results of the counting following an election are all out on the following day. It could be that the Councils do not like the responses they have, or it may be that they would like us all to wait and see. It has been pointed out to me that if the response had been mostly in favour of extension of the runway, etc, it would be blasted all over the newspapers by now!

So knowing what wonderful letter-writers you all are, why not inquire of your councillors what has happened to the results? If you get no reply, it being holiday season, send another to Shaun Scrutton at Rochford Council Planning Office, and ask if they will let you know.

Secondly, why not drop in on St Lauurence Church on any Thursday morning for a cup of tea and a biscuit, and perhaps a guided tour? Just point your car at the airport runway – you can’t miss the church! If you haven’t seen this wonderful little church already, make a point of going to see it before it becomes a hazard and they threaten to demolish it again. It’s nearly a thousand years old, and as some wag has said, “Fancy putting a church in the middle of a runway!”

Incidentally, I have had a visit from a friendly Rochford Police inspector to apologise for alarming us all at the airport. A really nice chap, who assured me that all the photos from the day have been destroyed.

Kindest regards to all

Kiti

Hello everyone!

There’s good news and bad news this morning -

I’ll start with the bad news – those of you looking forward to the Council meeting to attend the discussion of the future of the airport will be disappointed to learn that there will be no discussion this time. My own Councillor does not know when it is scheduled for discussion, but will keep me informed. So you can go ahead with your evening meal on Thursday evening and not have to rush out and be at the Civic Centre at 6.30 as planned!

The good news is of course that the timing of the airport ‘improvements’ is now very awry, and the dates for completion of various parts of the expansion are now rather nebulous. Detailed Planning Permission was granted in 2004 for the station, the car park and the new control tower, but as yet none of these has been completed; even the building of the rail station, which was begun with such enthusiasm this Spring, has now ground to a halt once more.

So our main objective, the prevention of the runway extension, would also seem to be in abeyance for now. We must stay vigilant, however. Please write to YOUR Councillors (don’t forget there are three for your ward – you will find all the contact numbers and addresses in the latest copy of OUTLOOK) and ask them to keep you informed on the agenda for the airport and what the Councill plans to do next.

I must apologise for the short notice for all this, but the agenda for the meeting only emerged yesterday. Thank you, also, to those of you who sent in questions for the Full Council meeting. I shall be asking Rob Tinlin and Nigel Holdcroft to keep them until a more appropriate time.

And thank you for staying with SAEN. Remember, ‘the show’s not over until the fat lady sings’. I’m rehearsing my song now, but it’s not ready for the public yet!

Best regards

Kiti Theobald – chairman

Hello again, everyone! As we seem to be in the doldrums a little at the moment, I thought I would take this opportunity to write about one or two things just to keep you in the picture, as it were.

I must first thank those who turned out for the Eastwood Residents meeting. It was certainly the liveliest we have had there for a very long time! Some excellent questions were put to the MD of the airport, and in spite of some animosity shown by regular members of the group who thought that outsiders had no business there, and were in fact, quite rude, I thought that it all went rather well.

There are two things coming up that I would love you to get involved with. The first is that the Lib-Dem spokesman for TRANSPORT is coming to the airport on Wednesday 8th July at about 8.30 in the morning. By 9.15/9.30 he will have finished his tour of the airport with the Managing Director and Graham Longley. Then he will be free to talk to anyone at all that is there. By now, most of you will have a good grasp of all the local issues and will be able to ask him what his views are on:-

• infrastructure
• threat to church property
• demolition of at least 6 cottages in the way of progress
• ‘rerouting’ of Eastwoodbury Lane
• noise pollution
• air pollution
• the real reasons why Eddie Stobart’s company has bought the lease
• safety factors
• night flights
• and so on.

We have all heard Alastair Welch’s views by now, and we need to begin to make it clear to those with influence what our views are. There is a lovely large area in front of the main reception at the airport, and funnily enough plenty of room to park, so please come if you are able to.

The Council meeting is on the 16th July – don’t forget that! We would love you to turn out in force if you can. More details soon – the committee is working on questions that can be put to the Council/ Mr Holdcroft and they have to be in 5 days before the meeting. If you have any questions, either send them direct to Nigel Holdcroft or send them to me, and I will do what I can to get them minuted.

Thanks for your support and all that you do – see you at the airport!

Kiti