Llydd Airport

[Marcus Whitaker]

I personally have mixed feelings as I am fully aware that the business and jobs the expansion would create is certainly needed to boost the economy of the area but at what cost, I am also fully aware of the damage this could cause to the environment that many people over many years have struggled to achieve and have created a haven for so much wild life which so many people enjoy, not just the residents.
What do you think, have you got a way the two could work together?
Who knows, I don't, do you?

[Marcus Whitaker]

Lydd Airport Proposals - RSPB Position Statement

Background
The owners of Lydd Airport have submitted planning applications to extend the runway length and
increase the amount of air traffic to 0.5 million passengers per annum (ppa). They have stated their
ambition to raise that figure to
2million ppa in the future.

Lydd Airport is located near to the
Dungeness to Pett Levels Special
Protection Area (SPA), which is
designated for its internationally important bird populations. It is also next to
Dungeness Special Area of
Conservation (SAC), designated for its great crested newt populations and rare shingle habitat. These designations represent the highest level of legal wildlife habitat protection available in Britain.

The RSPB is very concerned about the proposals for expansion of Lydd airport and the impacts this could have on wildlife and the environment.
Bird strike management
The large numbers of birds in the area make Dungeness a high bird strike risk area. Around 90,000 gulls are known to roost near to the airport on Romney sands. Therefore, the airport will have to implement bird hazard management measures, which could include scaring birds away from parts of the SPA.
Other impacts on wildlife and habitats
§ Potential disturbance to birds from increased air traffic and bird hazard
management measures.

§ The filling in of a pond to create a clear and graded safety strip next to the runway will mean the loss of part of Dungeness SAC designated for great crested newts.

§ Runway extension and new
terminal will mean the destruction of part of Dungeness, Romney Marsh and Rye Bay Site of Special Scientific Interest (SSSI) designated for its geological importance.

§ Air pollution from increased road and air traffic is likely to impact on SAC plant communities.

§ The Government’s policy on safeguarding of airports from bird strike means that major airports can object to proposals that would lead to an increase in birds in the area within 13km of the airport. This means that an expanded Lydd Airport will be able to object to any plans to create wetlands to improve the area for birds, other wildlife, and people.

Climate change
The plans for Lydd Airport are another example of the
increasing expansion of the
aviation industry. The RSPB is very concerned about the
implications that the growth of air travel, and associated
greenhouse gas emissions, has for climate change and
consequent adverse impacts on species, whole ecosystems and people. Greenhouse gas
emissions from aviation are by far the fastest growing sector. Currently they account for 3.5% worldwide, but will rise to 15% by 2050 if demand is unchecked.

The RSPB considers that human induced climate change poses the biggest long-term threat to global biodiversity and that the case for further growth in aviation to be questionable. The marginal economic and social benefit of additional growth in aviation is outweighed by its environmental and social costs, and the economic implications of dealing with these.

Conclusions
The South East England Regional
Assembly (SEERA) has indicated that it does not believe that Lydd Airport is of regional significance. The policy relating to Lydd has been removed from the latest version of the South East Plan, which sets the region’s development priorities up until 2026. The Plan is now being assessed at an Examination in Public (EiP). The RSPB presented our views at the EiP and opposed any
suggestions to reinstate the policy.

The RSPB has objected to the planning applications for expansion at Lydd Airport. We have requested that the Airport supplies further information, particularly on the bird hazard management measures they will employ. The RSPB has also recommended that the Government Office for the South East call-in the applications for determination at a Public Inquiry. We will continue to object to any development that threatens to damage the special wildlife of Dungeness.

Nearly four thousand people have shown their support for the campaign by signing our petition against the expansion. Local opposition is further emphasised by an overwhelming vote against the airport’s plan in a local newspaper poll.

Further information

If you would like more information about the RSPB’s views on the expansion of Lydd Airport, please contact either Alison Giacomelli, Joanna Crouch or Paul Outhwaite on 01273 775333.

Locally, there are two community groups representing the interests of local people who are opposed to the airport. These are Lydd Airport Action Group (contact: Louise Barton on 01797 361548, [e-mail]), and Keep the Marsh Special Alliance (contact Malcolm Dyer on 01797 361772, [e-mail]

How you can help

Please help to stop Lydd expansion. There are window stickers and small posters available form Rye Harbour Nature Reserve Information Centre that you can display to show your opposition to these plans.

For more information about what you can do, please contact Joanna Crouch, RSPB Community Planning Officer on 01273 763622 or by e-mail:
[e-mail].

[Marcus Whitaker]

LONDON ASHFORD AIRPORT (LYDD) HAS PLACED THE
ENVIRONMENT AT THE HEART OF ITS DEVELOPMENT PLANS

In the last issue of the Rye Harbour Newsletter, the RSPB set out their reasons for objecting to the proposed development of London Ashford Airport at Lydd. The airport is grateful to the Editor for allowing it to respond to the points raised by the Society.
After reading the RSPB’s comments in the last issue, the people of Rye could be forgiven for thinking that the airport’s senior management team had completely ignored their
environmental responsibilities in drawing up their exciting plans for the modernisation and upgrading of the airport.
The picture painted by the RSPB’s article is of an airport prepared to ride roughshod over the environment, local wildlife and natural habitats in the rush to expand. The truth is very different.
First it is important to note that a huge amount of time, money and effort has already been invested in Lydd
Airport. Over the past three years more than £20m has been spent as part of ambitious plans to transform Lydd into a modern regional
airport serving the South East. This has
included resurfacing the runway, upgrading instrument landing systems, the creation of an aircraft parking apron covering a 13 acre site, a new air traffic control system and new VIP terminal, as well as new departure and arrival facilities for commercial traffic and establishing offices for Immigration and Customs.
As part of the airport’s painstaking preparations for the submission of planning applications to continue developing Lydd airport, we have been working with the RSPB for the last two and a half years on our Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA). During this time, the airport has also fulfilled all its obligations in regards to the scoping report produced by Shepway District Council after they had consulted with RSPB, English Nature and other environmental agencies.
The Environmental Impact Assessment details a whole raft of measures aimed at safeguarding the environment of Romney Marsh and the surrounding regions. So what kind of ‘green’ measures aimed at safeguarding the environment are Lydd proposing to introduce if granted planning permission for a runway
extension and a new passenger terminal building? The EIA report reveals that the
airport will:
Produce an auditable waste management strategy to identify the most environmentally-friendly way to manage, collect and dispose of airport waste, with the focus on reducing, re-using and recycling. Waste prevention and minimisation programmes will also be targeted at airlines to cut down on waste generated by passengers.
Seek to promote a conservation monitoring programme, linked to a biodiversity management plan, to ensure that airport development doesn’t result in any reduction in biodiversity.Work closely with the Civil
Aviation Authority, the RSPB and Natural England to enhance bird conservation. As part of this, the airport will fund a research study to further assess the potential for air traffic to disturb wintering and breeding birds in the area.
Develop a travel plan to encourage the use of ‘sustainable modes of transport’ for both passengers and staff and reduce the reliance on private cars. LAA will also contribute to enhancing the existing bus services between Lydd and Ashford International Station so that they go via the airport.
Work with regulatory authorities to develop a roundabout at Hammonds Corner (at the junction of the A259 and B2075), vastly improving traffic flow to the benefit of local residents.
Develop an air quality management strategy and a long-term air quality monitoring study. Develop a noise management plan in consultation with the local authority – including, for example, a penalty system to fine airline operators using excessive thrust when taking off from or landing at LAA. Under this scheme, pilots would be fined for using ‘excessive thrust’ when coming into or departing from Lydd. Money raised from the fines would be ploughed into a special fund set up to benefit the local community.
LAA’s managing director Zaher Deir said: “The development of London Ashford Airport (Lydd) will bring widespread social and economic benefits, not just to Romney Marsh and Shepway but to Kent as a whole – a fact that has been recognised in the Kent and Medway Structure Plan.
“At the same time, LAA realises it has a duty to ensure that measures are in place to avoid, minimise or offset any
potentially significant effects the project might have on the environment and local community. For that reason we continue to do everything we can to make sure any development is done in an
environmentally sensitive manner.”
Mr Deir said that the majority of people living in the region are in support of the airport development and welcome the huge job
creation and economic benefits that it will bring. The highly vocal minority of residents who oppose the creation of a successful modern regional airport at Lydd are not representative of the population as a whole.
“I think it is also important to note that a
commercial airport has been here for more than 50 years and has proved to be a good neighbour during half a century of international air transport operations,” added Mr Deir.
London Ashford Airport (Lydd) has submitted two planning applications to Shepway District Council. One is for a new terminal building, capable of handling up to 500,000 passengers a year; the other is for a 294-metre runway extension together with an additional 150-metre starter extension. Shepway Council is expected to rule on the planning applications in the summer.
For further information about the airport visit
www.lydd-airport.co.uk.
The airport’s planning applications and EIA can be viewed at www.shepway.gov.uk