A Society Dedicated to Preserving and enhancing the environment of the Stour and Orwell AONB
25 September 2008
Uttlesford District Council (Planning)
Saffron Walden
CB11 4ER
Dear Sirs
Proposal for a Second Runway at
The Stour & Orwell Society was established to promote the conservation, protection and improvement of the physical and natural environment of the Stour & Orwell part of the Suffolk Coast & Heaths AONB and the adjoining special project area. SOS currently has 220 members, some of which are themselves representative organisations such as Parish Councils on the Shotley peninsula.
Our patron is local resident and environmental campaigner Griff Rhys Jones.
The Environmental quality of the Stour & Orwell Area
1. The Stour & Orwell area has many unique environmental qualities, it is very largely unspoilt and has retained its outstanding natural beauty; hence its designation as an Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty.
2. The area has significant statutory recognition as follows;
a. As an Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty (AONB) it forms part of only four designated AONB’s in the six counties of the Eastern Region.
b. The Convention on Wetlands of International Importance was signed in
c. The area contains above average sites of Special Scientific Interest, conservation areas, ancient woodland, listed buildings and historic parkland.
3. The AONB presents an unchanged sense of the English Countryside which it is designed to protect and enhance.” (Ref: Natural
4. The area provides for quiet recreation with the rural economy based on both agriculture and tourism. The quiet recreation is not only enjoyed by residents but also by many UK and International visitors who come to enjoy bird watching, walking, cycling, angling with sailing and boating pursuits available on the estuaries and inland at Alton Water Reservoir.
5. The rural tranquillity enjoyed by residents and visitors alike up to March 2004 was significantly valued. In the Rural White Paper 2000 the Government recognised the contribution of tranquillity to the character of the countryside. In March 2004 within changes of airspace design our area was subject to intense overflying.
6. From March 2004 the area has suffered frequent overflying on routes into
7. Following correspondence with NATS they have confirmed that at times flights affecting our area are crossing it every 2.3 minutes.
8. The Society has commissioned noise readings taken by experts in the acoustic field who have found that whilst the background noise was frequently at 35 db where only the sound of whispering grass was audible, the overflying noise was recorded at 60 db which is of a medium frequency rumble or raw with sometimes a crackle from certain aircraft types. One of the chief characteristics of the noise over the Stour & Orwell area was the unrelenting nature of the noise which on several occasions our acoustic expert found to be continuous or almost continuous due to the number of fly-over events but also due to the low background noise. It is the sharp gradient of noise which is affecting the tranquillity of the area.
9. With greatly increased flights this tranquillity is threatened further and the level of disturbance from an airport the size of Heathrow would be unimaginable in the rural tranquil environment of the Stour & Orwell Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty.
The expansion of Stansted and its effects on the area of rural
1. As a Society we are mindful of the noise and disruption to a formerly quiet corner of
2. A second runway, passenger terminal and control tower allowing the growth of Stansted to the size of Heathrow today would grotesquely change the character of the area still further and would be a major intrusion into this essentially rural area.
3. The destruction of many listed buildings and the destruction of the historical environment of which these buildings are an integral part would clearly impact on the character of this area of north-west
4. The need to expand Stansted as been predicated by a White Paper produced at the most optimistic time of a bull market in aviation. Since the White Paper was produced several airlines have disappeared and we are told by an aviation expert there are over 200 empty slots currently at Stansted which no airline wants to take up. It is therefore difficult to understand why the level of the environmental destruction is being considered when the airport even today has spare capacity and planes are currently being grounded through lack of demand.
5. When the environmental costs of aviation are actually fed through into ticket prices through increases in central government taxation then the ability to fly will be constrained by cost and therefore demand will either reduce or level off. These are significant factors that again have not been put into the projections since it is quite clear that, once the environmental costs are fully priced into a ticket, the era of low cost flying will prove to be a short-term phenomenon. The projections made in the White Paper should be reassessed.
6. The White Paper also gave consideration to the possible expansion of regional airports to cut down the excessive traffic movements from the north of the country to the southern airports. In BAA’s submission to the White Paper they had not predicted expansion of regional airports because they were, as owners, unwilling to make investments in these airports preferring to invest in their
We look forward to being able to make further presentations to the enquiry due to be held in April 2009.
Yours faithfully
Rodney Chadburn
Honorary Secretary
Stour & Orwell Society