Cambridgeshire Council slams NATS air stack plans

Date added: 23 May, 2008

21.5.2008   (UK Airport News)

The consultation on plans to stack thousands of aircraft over towns and villages
in Cambridgeshire has been slammed as ‘flawed’.   Cambridgeshire County Council said NATS (National Air Traffic Services, the air
traffic control company) has failed to carry out ‘any proper consultation whatsoever’
on proposals to replace the existing two stacks serving Luton and Stansted Airport.

The proposals would see a new stack for Luton covering air space to the west
of Cambridge, south of Huntingdon and east of St Neots, and two new ones for Stansted,
one of which would be over airspace south of Newmarket and north of Haverhill
and Linton.

However, county Councillors have said that NATS has refused to talk to parish
councils about the proposals, has not given people long enough to respond to the
issue (the consultation was recently extended for four weeks), and had underestimated
how many people could be affected by increased aircraft noise.

In their response to the consultation, councillors said NATS’ unwillingness to
engage with the public undermined the credibility of the process and gave the
impression that it had ‘prejudged’ the outcome.

21.05.08 Council slams NATS air stack plans

Posted: Friday, May 23rd, 2008. Filed in General News.