Call for block to London Ashford Airport expansion plans
08.01.07
Protesters fighting airport expansion proposals in Kent have stepped up their campaign to stop the development. Lydd London Ashford Airport submitted planning applications to Shepway District Council late last month for a runway extension and a new passenger terminal.
The proposals would see a 500,000 capacity passenger terminal building and a 637 space airport car park built, with the aim of creating a large regional airport, with a capacity of two million passengers a year. This is about the size to Cardiff airport in Wales, which handled just over two million passengers last year. A six-week consultation programme is under way, with exhibitions planned.
The airport's management has said the development would create thousands of jobs for the local area. But campaigners from the Keep The Marsh Special Alliance have urged local residents to write letters of protest to the council and the government.
Supporters of the campaign group, which was set up to fight the plans along with the Lydd Airport Action Group, spent Sunday delivering thousands of leaflets to householders across the area asking residents to consider their 'quality of life' if the plans get the go ahead. It says: 'There will be jet flights over this area every 20 to 30 minutes. There will be increased road congestion [on local roads]. If we don't stop it now, the expansion will go ahead and our lives will be blighted forever.'
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