LSACL has a number of comments on the published Evidence report. Most of these are minor corrections which would not affect the soundness of the evidence and will be submitted separately. However, the following should be addressed to ensure that the evidence is to be sound:
. The Airport is described and shown on the plans (eg the purple line on Figure 1-1) as being the original 1994 leased area. However, there are significant additional areas which are now part of the Airport, some of which are currently used for operational activities, in particular the area to the south west of the runway between Eastwoodbury Lane and Nestuda Way, which is used for the Runway End Safety Area (RESA) and Instrument Landing System (ILS) Localiser Aerial and its associated restricted area. There are three other areas which should be added, east of the end of Aviation Way, south of the Runway 06 threshold and east of the railway
. Section 3.2 of the Evidence report could note that the existing runway limits all types of aircraft operations, not just commercial services
. A number of corrections are needed to Chapter 4 of the Evidence report on transport
. Chapter 6 of the Evidence report could note the differences in the scale of economic activity between Rochford and Southend, not just the respective rates.
. Chapter 7 of the Evidence report could note the specific skills of the aviation related business cluster at Southend Airport.
. In describing the scenarios in Chapter 11 of the Evidence report, it should be noted that with Scenarios 1, 2(a) and 2(b) there is a risk that the Civil Aviation Authority (CAA) will require an increase in the length of the RESA at the north east end of the runway which would result in a shortening of the usable runway length and therefore a further limitation on the size and types of aircraft which could operate.
. The Evidence Base could be significantly enhanced by reference to additional transport policies and strategies and by further appraisal of transport issues.