Lydd Airport determination to be on 3rd March 2010
Date added: 28 October, 2009
Press Release: Wednesday October 28th, 2009
Determination March 3rd 2010 and FOI Request
LAAG has been informed that the meeting to determine Lydd Airport‘s planning application will take place on Wednesday 3rd March 2010 in the Shepway District Council Chamber at 7pm.
A Freedom of Information (FOI) request has revealed that Lydd Airport through its advisors has challenged Shepway District Council’s Officer’s Report,
published July 1st 2009, which recommended that the planning applications for the runway extension
and new terminal at Lydd Airport be refused. Lydd Airport‘s response maintained that the Officers Report was flawed and was published
on August 27th, 2009. The FOI request also revealed that Shepway District Council has accommodated
Lydd Airport‘s desire to explore how the refusal recommendation made in the Officer’s Report
could be overcome. This was the reason for the delay in the determination of the
planning application from September 24th 2009 until February/March 2010 – not
the need to give Jonathan Gordon,
Lydd Airport‘s new Managing Director, time to review all the paper work involved in the two
applications – the explanation given at the time this delay was announced on September
8
th 2009.
Should Lydd Airport submit new evidence in support of its case that the Officer’s Report is flawed, this
should lead to another public consultation, a further delay in the determination
of the planning application and additional uncertainty for local residents living
under the flight paths.
Louise Barton
Lydd Airport Action Group
www.lyddairportaction.co.uk
Notes to Editors:
(1) Lydd Airport submitted a planning application in December 2006 (Y06/1647/SH
& Y06/1648/SH) for a 444m extension to its runway and a new terminal to increase
its passenger numbers from <2000 per annum in 2008 to 500,000 passengers per
annum (ppa). This planning application represents Phase1 of the airport’s Master
Plan objective to increase passenger numbers to 2million passengers per annum
(2mppa).
(2) Lydd Airport’s planning application was scheduled to be determined on July 9th, 2009. This was delayed at the behest of Lydd Airport to September 23rd, later changed to September 24th. On September 8th 2009 Shepway District Council announced that the determination would again be
delayed until February/March 2010 allegedly to allow Lydd Airport’s new Managing Director Jonathan Gordon to assess the paperwork associated with
the applications.
(3) Lydd Airport is located less than three miles from the Dungeness Nuclear Power Complex with
a height restriction of 2000ft and less than two miles and eight miles respectively
from the Lydd (D044) and Hythe (D141) Military Ranges with respective height restrictions of 4000 ft, and 3200ft. The airport is
surrounded by unique natural habitats protected under European and national laws
and is located under the main bird migratory route in the south of
England. All these factors make the location unsuitable for a regional airport.
(4) LAAG is an action group formed in late August 2004 to oppose the large scale
development of Lydd Airport. LAAG has over 2850 active members.
Posted: Wednesday, October 28th, 2009. Filed in News about Airports.
