Object to the airport expansion. First and foremost, no proper, independently assessed, business case has been put forward regarding the benefits to the local community: more jobs, possibly, but many of these will be highly specialised and the recruitment net will be cast much further afield. Weigh this unsupported benefit up against the negatives: increased air and noise pollution for residents and especially school children (flight paths pass over many schools in the area); a nail in the coffin of trying to make Southend a weekend tourist destination (which would generate far more sustainable benefits to the area: who goes to visit Stansted for a break?); sheer congestion on the roads and rail (Southend is geographically the wrong place to pick for an airport being on a 'peninsula' for want of a better word) - adding to the pollution further; there already exists an established airport in the county (Standsted); harm to the eco-system (being an estuary); and the bewildering closeness of residential areas close by the airport. How can this white elephant be considered while one of the longest pleasure piers in the world rots in the Thames? There's real opportunity to bring prosperity to local residents, rather than a few shareholders, but, with the airport, you're looking in the wrong place.