Stansted runway application unveiled
11.03.08
The planning application to build a second runway at Stansted Airport was unveiled today. If approved, it could see airport double in size, with a new runway and the new terminal built by 2015. The airport could then be serving 68 million passengers a year by 2030.
The plans show a reduction in land required from around 700 hectares originally earmarked to 442 hectares. The number of houses required for the expansion would be reduced by over 25% with the number of listed buildings lost reduced from 29 to 13, with 10 of these to be dismantled and rebuilt.
An extra 208 hectares of existing land adjacent to the extended airport boundary would be dedicated to a ‘comprehensive’ nature conservation and landscaping scheme to reduce and offset the effects of the development.
Around 70 stringent sustainability targets would be set, including:
- By 2030 Stansted’s carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions from energy use will not exceed those in 2006
- By 2030, water supplied to Stansted will be no greater volume than that used by the single runway airport operation at present
- 10% or less of waste to landfill by 2030
- By 2030, 70% of waste generated by the airport’s operation will be recycled
- Investment is also planned in road and rail improvements
BAA said the development will create more than 13,000 jobs and boost the economy by £9 billion. Alastair McDermid, BAA director for Stansted Generation 2 (the application for the second runway is known as Generation 2 or G2), said: ‘The potential benefit of a second runway is enormous for business growth, for the creation of thousands of new jobs, for supporting inward investment and for boosting inbound tourism.’
BAA's Chairman, Sir Nigel Rudd, said: ‘We are fully committed to building a second runway, a project that is central to government policy in delivering additional runway capacity in the south east. This important project will bring huge benefits to the East of England and UK economy and will increase choice and opportunity for millions of business and leisure travellers.’
However, opponents say it will ruin unspoilt countryside. Essex County Council and campaign groups say the plan is environmentally disastrous. The Stop Stansted Expansion (SSE) campaign group claims the development would ruin 1000 acres of countryside and ancient woodland.
SSE described the application as ‘going beyond environmental vandalism and being tantamount to a declaration of war on the local community and global environment’. A spokesman said: ‘This is a betrayal of a longstanding undertaking to the local community that there would never be a second runway at Stansted. We will fight BAA's plans tooth and nail in what will be a defining test of whether protection of our environment is more highly valued by the government than still more cheap flights and doing BAA's bidding.’
Lord Hanningfield, leader of Essex County Council, added: ‘This is not what the people of Essex want and it is not what the people of Britain need. If it goes ahead, it will have a severe impact on the quality of life of hundreds of thousands of Essex residents, with more pollution, traffic and noise. It is time for the Government to go back to the drawing board and rethink its aviation strategy.’
But David Frost, director general of the British Chambers of Commerce, said the development was much-needed. He said: ‘With the UK economy now facing a slowdown, it could not be more crucial that the country's third busiest airport is permitted to expand.'
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