Stop Stansted Expansion

From Sustainable Community Action

Stop Stansted Expansion [SSE] is a campaign group opposed to the expansion of Stansted Airport. Their objective is: "To contain the development of Stansted Airport within tight limits that are truly sustainable and, in this way, to protect the quality of life of residents over wide areas of Essex, Hertfordshire and Suffolk, to preserve our heritage and to protect the natural environment." The campaign group has over 6,000 individual members and the support of more than 100 local authorities and other organisations. SSE has been fighting airport expansion by legal means and constructive argument since 2002, when a Department for Transport consultation suggested that Stansted could expand to up to 4 runways. In 2004/2005, SSE mounted a High Court challenge to the government White Paper on aviation transport policy and, although it did not manage to overturn the paper, the judge deemed that the wide-spaced runway option presented as the preferred option in the document was "a bridge too far" and a matter that should be decided through the normal planning procedures.

BAA is seeking unlimited passenger use of the airport’s single runway, currently capped at 25 million passengers per annum, which could result in the eventual doubling passenger throughput and an increase in the number of flights from 192,000 (latest 12 months total) to 264,000 annually. Permission for the application was refused by Uttlesford District Council in November last year and the Public Inquiry will hear BAA’s appeal against that decision.

The opposition that Stop Stansted Expansion (SSE) has mounted to BAA’s plans represents the culmination of more than a year's work by a dedicated team of volunteers and external consultants, widely supported by the campaign’s 6500 members and beyond. With the Inquiry set to last into October, evidence exposing the true scale of environmental damage that would be caused by BAA's proposals and their negative impact upon the UK economy will be heard from scores of organisations and individuals, from parish, district and town councils, conservation and community groups to those fighting airport expansion elsewhere in the UK.

As a principal participant in the Public Inquiry, SSE will present evidence covering a range of issues from economics and employment, climate change and community cohesion to noise, health, road and rail impacts, air quality, water and air traffic forecasts.

Apart from the local planning authority Uttlesford District Council and Herts and Essex County Councils, other key parties in the Inquiry giving evidence against BAA’s proposals are the Stansted Airlines Consultative Committee, National Trust, Friends of the Earth and Much Hadham Parish Council.

Following the Public Inquiry, the Inspector will submit his report and recommendation to the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government and Secretary of State for Transport for decision.