6 Timetable - Your Views

In the present economic and environmental climate, airport expansion is not desirable and this airport is far too near residential areas from a noise and safety point of view.
Saxon Business Park: look at the empty offices in Victoria Avenue and Gunners Park-how can you argue that the area needs office space or any more retail out-of-town outlets? If the football stadium is also to have a retail park you are living in cloud-cuckoo land if you think that there are businesses out there who will want the space.
A small airport with connecting flights as at present is perfectly adequate.

No progress should be allowed until after a full Public Enquiry. Total objection.

I am strongly opposed to airport expansion.
Noise pollution: Increase in flights will lead to an increase in noise. Night flights already disturb my family's sleep.
Traffic congestion: Road infrastructure cannot cope at present. A127, A13 regularly jam up. Additional traffic coming to airport will increase strain on road system. Majority of air passengers will arrive by road vehicle, not rail.
Air pollution: More flights, more pollution.
Safety: Southend is a densely populated area, many homes are under flight path.
Economic benefit: Majority of jobs in airport environs are not aviation related. Light business/industrial units could be built without airport expansion.

Loss of lifestyle - this area is already densely populated, suffering too much road traffic.
No need for another airport - Stansted, Gatwick, Luton and Heathrow are easily reached. By the time Southend is developed, travel times will increase dramatically.
Pollution - my childrens' lives will be adversely affected by increased noise.
Recent reports already suggest that many flights are leaving (near) empty just to keep their slots, therefore there is already spare capacity in the industry, we do not need more.
Employment - you can not guarantee that this will increase local employment rates.

No need in present climate for airport expansion. Aircraft emissions are responsible for decline in ozone layer adversely affecting our planet. For the sake of possibly one or two flights for pleasure a year a trip to other regional airports is acceptable.A127 would become a nightmare for local commuters. Risk of an accident over such a hugely densely populated area. Noise levels would increase & over time bigger planes may be introduced if technology proves they can become quieter etc. No going back once this disastrous proposal is accepted. Propery prices adversely affected.

So important for the area let everything proceed as quickly as possible

I strongly object to what appears to be a 'fait accompli' masquerading under the guise of a consultation with local people whose lives will be negatively affected:
* Thousands will be compromised by one individual's profiteering.
* There exists totally inadequate infrastructure (A127, A13, railway and car parking).
* Local property owners are already subjected to unacceptable levels of noise.
* The joint chairman of JAAP do not live near enough to suffer and neither does Eddie Stobbart - surprise, surprise!!!

I am 81 years old and live quite near to the airport.
I am in favour of the proposed developments and would like to see them implemented quickly. Stobart has shown that he is a caring operator and can be trusted.
I would welcome flights within the UK and short-haul flights abroad.
The resultant trade and employment opportunities would be beneficial to the area.

Support the timetable

I do not believe that Southend Airport should be enlarged. There are enough airports like Stansted, Luton, Gatwick and London City to accommodate any possible rise in SE Thames passenger numbers without needing to enlarge Southend. The noise and fuel pollution would make this an undesirable place to live and work. I for one, do not want my children to live/breathe within the shadow of such an airport. There is simply no reason to pollute yet more populated areas in the SE. Build an airport in the estuary if you must, but not where people live.

I object to
# Runway extension
# Re-routing of Eastwoodbury Lane
# The increase in take-offs and landings
# The increase in aircraft maintenance - could be an accident waiting to happen when older aircraft come for repairs
# The congestion this will create with extra passengers in their cars, freight transportation to the airport and food supplies for the airport and aircraft
# SERT - what roads are wide enough for this run in its own lane and how is it going to help congestion, passengers will not only be coming from the local area, but from far and wide in their own cars

I am writing to put on record my objection to the above proposed plan.

I object on various accounts but in summary these are largely thus:

The airport has had a huge amount of financial support over the years and has still ultimately failed. I do not see that expanding it will bring in a huge number of jobs as companies will still have to have the demand for their products and services and the economic environment is such that demand is falling. I see little evidence to back up the numbers quoted?

We are already well served by airports in the county and within an hour, could be at Stansted, Gatwick or London City. There are also numerous smaller airports. Why do we require another? The simple answer is that we don't. There is no appetite from the public for such an expansion and it seems that the wishes of the people are being ridden roughshod over by the Council.

The arguments that the airport will mainly be used for freight will quickly change to transporting more and more passengers. The experience of Southampton Airport is an important one, especially since it is the model for our own airport plans. We do not want nor need an airport of that size in such a small town. It will totally change the landscape of Southend, making it a far less attractive place to live. Airports should never be built in densely populated areas.

Our town is already over congested without the increased traffic from such a proposal. This will further increase our polluted environment with the increase in road traffic, before we even take into consideration the amount of fuel being dumped from the sky and the noise pollution created. Our health, safety and enjoyment of the area will be compromised and not just for us, but also for our children and future generations.

We simply do not have the infrastructure to support access to a larger airport. Our roads are already highly congested with just two main roads into the area, namely the A13 and A127. Whilst the creation of link roads road may make access easier, it will also attract more lorries, as well as other transport that is not currently coming into this town. The inconvenience caused to businesses and homes by relocation in order to accommodate the new roads and airport and the destruction of green belt land far outweighs any few advantages.

Homes in the area will be devalued as a result of the proximity of the airport and the flight path. Who will pay the compensation? Houses near the proposed flightpath are already being affected before the plans have even gone ahead. Look at the cost of those houses affected by Stansted.


The flight path will run directly over Leigh and ruin one of the most beautiful and attractive towns we have in Southend. There are planned restrictions on flights, noise levels and environmental issues etc, but these will almost certainly be watered down or ignored over time and what we will be left with is an airport unrecognisable from the current plans.

The terrible disgrace in all of this, has been the way that Rochford and in particular, Southend Councils have blatantly tried to bury information and keep people poorly informed, whilst at the same time entering into a campaign of pro expansion hype and propaganda. The truth is that the airport has been mismanaged for years and now the council's see the opportunity to make some quick money it has been offloaded without any proper consultation, to a haulage firm of all things. This cosmetic consultation period is a sham, which without the local media attention, would have been allowed to continue. The worst thing of all for me is that this has been done by Conservative councils, who I thought would know better.

I hope local people demonstrate until this dreadful plan is defeated. I have never demonstrated before, but would be happy to join them. You council officials responsible for even getting us to this juncture should be ashamed of yourselves.

I am concerned for heavier planes landing and taking off over residential area. Cargo planes noise - although you say there will be restrictions. Pollution over residential area not wanted.

We need opportunity to object if noise level goes above the acceptable limit and objections to be listened to and acted upon.

This is just wrong.

I would guess that the ratio of objections to agree's is about 40 to 1.

Given this amount of objections, there must be more time to sit down and review all the comments.

This cannot be steam-rollered through just because of big money from Stobards.

Once concreted over, land is rarely (if ever) recovered.

A long term impact is needed, after all a railway station was proposed in the 1950's when there were higher numbers of passengers yet today it would look silly and unwanted

My views are on the subject of the airport expansion generally not just the timetable. I'm expressing them here as you haven't made it easy to express them any where else on-line. something.

I am against the airport expansion because I am against ANY airport expansion for obvious environmental reasons that don't need reiterating here. I have protested against other expansions that haven't been in my 'backyard' too. It is so blindingly obvious that this poor planet can't sustain our desire for consumerism and travel for much longer.

I also wish to objectto the way the action plan was presentd. It was mendacious in the way the runway was depicted from the angle it was shown and the copy was 'greenwashed' to make it seem more environmentally friendly. I think you must believe the public are fools.

At a time of deep recession, the proposal to undertake such a large capital development on the airport and its surrounding infrastructure is bizarre, especially as it is not a necessity. If it is such a sound business proposition, why was it not taken-up years ago by some successful entrepreneur when the economy was in a much stronger state? Funding alone in the current economic climate should prove very interesting.

If this development goes ahead, the councillors of both Southend and Rochford could be responsible for placing an albatross around the necks of their ratepayers for years to come.

I have registered on the JAAP website, read the document posted to my address by hand, and now wish to make my views count. I think the website is totally useless, inefficient to use and feel strongly that this is a deliberate ploy to prevent those of us extremely worried about the development from making our views known. 'Have Your Say' the document says, I would very much welcome the facility to do just that. I am not alone in these views, I have spoken to many people who have experienced the same problems. I would be very grateful for an urgent suggestion as to how I can make my worries known before the deadline of April 9th.

SOUTHEND BOROUGH COUNCIL & ROCHFORD DISTRICT COUNCIL LONDON SOUTHEND AIRPORT & ENVIRONS JOINT AREA ACTION PLAN DEVELOPMENT PLAN DOCUMENT: INITIAL CONSULTATION ON PREFERRED OPTIONS DOCUMENT

Dear Sirs
I enclose the response of the Campaign to Protect Rural Essex to this document. Please confirm receipt.
A hard copy will follow by post.
Thank you

Yours faithfully

John Drake (Director to the Executive Committee)



On behalf of CPREssex

I don't feel that local people have been consulted to any meaningful level. I feel that many of the proposals are not substatiated with real evidence. I particularly think that funding for the so called 'improvements' in the surrounding area are based on assumptions and hopes.

The situation has changed and Government funding will now be tight, will it be there now to pay for this?

I as a local certainly don't feel consulted, and I don't feel listend to either.

I urge you to strongly reconsider the expansion of Southend Airport. I am a teacher and I am constantly embarking on 'green' projects with children - for the future of our children, I would ask you not to go ahead with this.

Emphatically opposed to the airport proposals. Absolutely no need for further development. Currently and for years ahead, the existing facilities are more than adequate for any demand. This area is already more than adequately served for passengers and freight by Stansted, Gatwick, Luton and London City airports (and not forgetting Heathrow). They are all easily accessible by existing road and rail transport facilities. S/E Essex is already bursting at the seams with road traffic. The extra generated by a larger airport (including much more polluting freight lorries) would more than offset any reduction from Essex people and businesses using it.

Put simply, ther is no need or requirement for an airport at Rochford. The area is more than adequately served by Stansted, Luton and the three London Airlports.
I worked for four years at Management Level in the airline industry and the demand for travel is one artificially generated by the airlines to create value for a small number of shareholders. Whilst I appreciate that the generation of jobs is worthly of consideration, I truely believe that this is outweighed by the negative impacts of noise and environmental pollution, congestion and the impact on the quality of local life. Please stop.

No to expansion.
There is alot more that could be developed in Southend than the airport. It is not necessary. No to increased pollution, traffic, planes, night flights, noise. There are enough airports in the country.
It would be detrimental to the area to expand.

I object to the extension of the airport runway in that it would allow an increased number of planes to fly over this densely populated residential area,in which are also located 5 or 6 schools. The detrimental effect on residents'& pupils' lives would be virtually incalculable. The effect on the local environment,and populace in general, from additional air and concomitant land traffic would similarly be extremely harmful.

I object to the proposed runway extension and growth of Southend airport for the following reasons:
1. I live under the flight path and do not wish to be impacted by increases in noise and pollution caused by aircraft.
2. I am concerned of the impact that increased noise and pollution will have on the schools that are on or near the flight path.
3. I do not feel that Southend needs this extra capacity, we are within easy reach of Stanstead, Gatwick and Heathrow, the perceived benefit to local economy will be far outweighed by the environmental, noise, and safety concerns held by local people.
4. We do not need the extra traffic that increased airport capacity will bring to our already overcrowded roads.
5. The nose generated by night flights will impact heavily on the quality of life of many of the areas residents.

I fundamentally object to the expansion of Southend Airport as set out - I object on the basis of local environmental impact, noise for the local community including me, and I do not believe in the expansion of air travel given it s environmental impact. I would rather employment gains were found in other transport areas of growth ie trains/trams and similar low impact means of transport.

I object to the expansion of Southend Airport which would bring more pollution,an unacceptable increase in noise levels and traffic conjestion to an already over developed region.There is no need for an expanded airport in this area as we are adequately served by Stansted,Gatwick,Luton and London City airports.

The noise levels created by the aeroplanes is unacceptable to me as is the increased pollution from additional flights and road traffic. The roads could not cope with the extra congestion.
We are already well served by several other major airports within reasonable travelling distance; therefore expansion of Southend Airport is unnecessary.
I do not believe that this plan will really create as many jobs as you think.

Renaissance Southend supports the earliest possible progression of the JAAP to give certainty and confidence to private investment within the JAAP boundary and to ensure that the potential benefits from early implementation in advance of the 2012 Olympics are realised.

Emphatically opposed to the airport proposals. Absolutely no need for further development. Currently and for years ahead, the existing facilities are more than adequate for any demand. This area is already more than adequately served for passengers and freight by Stansted, Gatwick, Luton and London City airports (and not forgetting Heathrow). They are all easily accessible by existing road and rail transport facilities. S/E Essex is already bursting at the seams with road traffic. The extra generated by a larger airport (including much more polluting freight lorries) would more than offset any reduction from Essex people and businesses using it.