PETITION TAKES OFF TO GROUND AIRPORT GROWTH

article by Michelle Neville

A petition to try and halt the expansion of Shoreham Airport has been started online.

The airport's managers and joint owners, Brighton and Hove City Council and Worthing Borough Council, want to expand the historic site to allow national commercial flights to operate.

The idea has attracted strong opposition, not least from environmentalists, who say the planes will spoil surrounding wildlife habitats and cause greater global warming.

The online petition wants to acheive the 'complete abandonment' of the expansion bid.

Susan Board, from Shoreham, who started the petition, said "We oppose the plans to develop Shoreham Airport and any proposals to increase air travel from there.

It is an unsustainable idea in terms of both the land and the global environment and in terms of economies."

Mrs Board, who stood in last year's West Sussex County Council elections as a Green Party candidate, said "We have had support from local people and from some councillors and we hope to get more."

The expansion of Shoreham Airport has been put on ice until the end of March, when the sale of the site to an unnamed company is likely to be sealed.

Once the sale is completed, which airport managers say is not a complete formality, plans will be released detailing exactly what will happen at the airport.

Manager John Haffenden said he supported the expansion plans as it was necessary for the airport to remain modern and relevant in the 'fast paced' avaiation industry.

The new developers will not own the airport under the terms of the current contract being negotiated, but will lease the site for 150 years, with a brief to keep it as a fully functioning airport.

The expansion plan is being put forward as a potential solution to the airport's financial woes.

Shoreham Airport's own website says it has outstanding loans worth £3.6 million.

It states: "The owning authorities are concerned that while the airport is currently making a small surplus, it has outstanding loans of about £3.6 million. it could therefore go into deficit if interest rates, operational costs or capital costs were to rise significantly. Any such deficit may then have to borne by the council tax payers of Brighton and Hove and Worthing.

Two proposals have been tabled by the councils, both of which seek to increase the number of air traffic movements on the site to 100,000 per year.

The second application also proposes replacing the existing main runway with a 1,199 metre-long strip. So far, the online petition at www.petition-them.com has 79 names.

This article first appeared in the Shoreham Herald on 19th January 2006.