Dear Sirs,
Request for a Public Inquiry for the planning Application number:- 09/01960/FULM Runway Extension for London Southend Airport.
Please can you help in this matter?
We are rapidly losing faith in the local Conservative run Council
Their arrogance is beyond belief.
They wish to expand the local airport, which is sited within a densely populated area. Having carried out a consultation – when many of the households concerned never received any information about, they had to repeat the exercise and extend the closing date but then, they decided not to publish the results!
The results have only been obtained by applying under the Freedom of Information Act
The results showed that 80% of the people who responded (and several thousand people did respond) did not want an expansion but the local conservative party have decided that this is not representative of the majority of the views of the local people……..so they are going ahead anyway!
The airport has been sold to the Stobart Group. The fears of many people living nearby or under the flight path are:
1. the increased emissions from freight aircraft and in particular the disturbance at night, as currently there are no restrictions on night flights involving freight.
The flight path travels over a densley populated area as well as several schools within the area, including one school for children with special needs. At the moment the teachers at the schools have to stop teaching whenever a plane goes over. For the number of flights to be increased, the education of the children at these schools is likely to be seriously disrupted.
The quality of life for many thousands of people will be adversely affected by the smell and pollution from an increase in freight planes as well as the increased disturbance especially at night.
2. There are only two main roads in and out of our town: the A13 and A127. Both of these roads are gridlocked during the rush hours. In order to accommodate the expansion and extension of the runway, a diversion is to be made of another busy main road within the town that currently runs across the end of the existing runway. The plan is to divert this busy main road into an even busier main road that leads directly off the A127 -and no one on the local planning committee seems to understand that this will create a gridlock with the local traffic, especially during rush hour as many local people use them to avoid the A127. At the moment these two roads are very busy throughout the day, but especially during the rush hour, but to merge them in this way, will creat havoc as traffic silts back up on the A127.
3. The only means of access to the airport from the main A127 is through residential areas. Having sold the airport to the Stobart Group will, many of the residents of this town believe, increase heavy goods vehicles on the surrounding residential roads and all the schools within the area. There will be further havoc and traffic pollution to the many local people trying to gain access to their local schools in the morning or to get to work.
It is the belief of many people in this town, that this is too big a project for a few misinformed and arrogant local town planners to decide the fate of many thousands of residents whose lives will be blighted if this expansion is allowed to go ahead – please can this matter be ‘called in’ so that a proper public enquiry may be set up to look at the implications for thousands of residents and several schools under the flight path of this small airport, to determine the impact of such an expansion such as:
More climate change emissions
More road traffic
More noise
We no longer have any faith in the decency of the local council to deal with this matter. We, like many of the hundreds of people who turn up at meetings to protest about this expansion believe that we have been lied to by the local council and that behind closed doors, some kind of deal has been struck and that the residents of this town will just have to put up with it.
We attach a copy of our letter that has been sent to every member of the local planning committee, for more detailed information. Not one of them has replied because they have all been told that they cannot comment. What kind of country are we living in, where the views of the local electorate are ignored.
We want a proper enquiry into the the cause and effect of expanding the airport thereby increasing flights, day and night over densely populated areas.
Regards
Mr. & Mrs. Shardlow