Lydd Airport, lying at the heart of the unique landscape of Dungeness, has a dream, an ambition, to become the 'Gatwick of the South Coast'.

Sound troubling?

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To prevent Lydd Airport expanding from 5,000 passengers per annum now to 2 million by 2011.

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Add your support to our campaign to fight against the runway expansion at Lydd Airport and ensure Romney Marsh remains protected for generations to come.

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What we've achieved so far

• Public presentations stating the case against
• Presence and objections at all Lydd Airport public meetings, raising the same questions in front of different audiences
• Information resources & South East England Regional Assembly (SEERA) consultation responses online
• Poster & leafleting campaigns at key times to all local residents
• Referenda in local villages
• Attendance & presentations at Shepway District Council debates
• Engagement in SEERA and Government Office for the South East (GOSE) consultation process
• Detailed study of and response to Lydd Airport's Environmental Impact Study (EIS)
• Lobbying of new councillors at elections
• Preparation of case for public enquiry if/when the application is called in

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Airport Meeting Re-scheduled AGAIN

On 7th September, Shepway District Council's Chief Executive Alistair Stewart announced that the council's meeting to decide on Lydd Airport' planning applications was to be re-scheduled until early in 2010. The date has been changed yet again, following a request from the airport's new Managing Director, Jonathan Gordon, who asked that the meeting be deferred to give him time to review all the paperwork involved in the two applications, including the airport's response to concerns raised by the council in its published report.

The published report recommends that planning permission for both the runway extension and the new terminal be refused largely as a result of the airport's failure to demonstrate that the development will not have an adverse impact on the protected habitats that surround the airport's runway.

The Chief Executive made it clear that he is not prepared to change the date again as the airport applications must be finally determined. So we await a new council meeting decision date in 2010. The decision still rests with the councillors and if, at the end of this lengthy saga, the councillors do approve the plans, this would lead to an automatic call in, as they are going against recommendations from the statutory body, Natural England.

We will publish the new date as soon as we know it. Meanwhile, please continue to lobby the council to ask for refusal of planning permission for both applications.

Please contact your local Shepway District Councillor (if you live within the Shepway area), or to write to or email the Leader of the Council, Mr Robert Bliss at the following address:

Mr R Bliss, Leader, Shepway District Council, Civic Centre, Castle Hill Ave, Folkestone, CT20 2QY.

Many thanks for all your support.

London Ashford Airport (Lydd) formally submitted the planning applications relating to its expansion at the beginning of 2007. Two major applications were filed with Shepway District Council. The 1st (Y06/1648/SH)concerned transforming their runway to handle large jets, (Boeing 737 and Airbus A320 size), by adding 294 metres to it's length, plus another 150 meter starter extension. The 2nd (Y06/1647/SH) was for the erection of a terminal building and car parking to handle an initial 500,000 passengers annually.

Check out also the RSPB website community blogs for the article of Tuesday, 8 September 2009, Lydd Airport: this one will run and run.