NO THANK'S TO AIRPORT

Midlands protesters have inundated the Department for Transport with letters saying No Way!" to the plan to build the worlds second largest airport at Rugby.

Midlands says no thanks to worlds second biggest airport
Midlands protesters have inundated the Department for Transport with letters saying No Way!" to the plan to build the worlds second largest airport at Rugby.
The DfT proposes to build the giant airport either in Warwickshire or in the South-east. Theres no doubt which area desires it least because twice as many people in the Midlands have dashed off angry letters to the department as 'Southerners.
The period for objections expires at the end of the month. The department will have received many more by then," the MP for Rugby, Mr Andy King, predicted last night.
The Midlands is not famous for letter-writing but the deluge has happened since surprise news of plans for a giant airport came from the transport secretary, Mr Alistair Darling. In a consultation document on the future of airports, he suggested air transport could be shifted out of the South-east to a super-airport in the Midlands.
In the meantime, government planners assessed a number of sites and identified farmlands near Rugby as the best -- even though it involves the destruction of two historic villages, making a drain of two miles of the Avon River, and the loss of large tracts of lush farmlands and beautiful countryside.
The response from Warwickshire was quick and fierce. Several protest websites began, there have been angry meetings and protest marches, and a tractor drive-in on a busy highway.
Despite the difference in populations, 10,500 Midlanders wrote letters of protest to the DfT compared with 5,121 from the SE. An official DfT questionnaire, which had been considered suspect in Warwickshire, was completed by 3,265 people in the South East, and 1,184 in the Midlands.
The DfT told Mr King in the Commons this week that 52,112 copies of the Main Midland Consultation document and 55,951copies of the Summary Midland Consultation document had been distributed.
Mr James Plaskitt, MP for Warwick and Leamington, was filled with praise for the Midlands reaction. We have plenty of powerful reasons to oppose this airport," he said. It is, after all, the worst of all options. Our arguments must be heard. People who have not yet sent in their objections, please do so."
In the meantime, Mr Plaskitt has submitted his own detailed submission to Mr Darling. My central argument is that the Rugby-Coventry airport option would fail to deliver on any of the national objectives guiding this consultation exercise," Mr Plaskitt said.
Mr David Bonner, coordinator of the Stretton on Dunmore village anti-airport group, said last night that the quantity and quality of the response to the DfT was important. They have to take notice of that, he said.
Mr Bonner said that the questionnaires could be analysed immediately after the deadline for opposition at the end of the month. The questionnaires are machine readable," he said. Their analysis could be on Alistair Darlings desk in a matter of days. This could well influence heavily the direction of future discussions leading up to a White Paper next Spring.
We really need everyone to respond to the questionnaire before the end of the month, and to keep those letters going to the DfT."
Guidance on the questionnaire is available on the Stop the Avon Valley Airport website, http://www.stopavonvalleyairport.org.uk/

Contact:
Mr David Bonner, coordinator of the Stretton on Dunmore village anti-airport group, dave@bonner4.freeserve.co.uk