STOP PRESS 24/10/00 : Rally to highlight the destruction of the Bourley and Long Valley SSSI at Church Crookham 10.00 - 14.00. Meet at the Foresters pub (Aldershot Road, Church Crookham) at 10.00am
STOP PRESS 1/10/00 : John Prescott rubber-stamped the TAG Application on 26/9/00
Unfortunately the TAG Planning Application was passed at Rushmoor Council Offices on August 30th by the Development and Management Committee by a vote of 9-3 in favour.
Four councillors on the committee were away on holiday as were many members of the public. Independent councillor Patrick Kirby had asked at the beginning of the meeting, justifiably, that the meeting be put back to September. This was overruled. Charles Fraser-Fleming (Lib-Dem) also spoke against the application and asked for the decision to be split so that the weight issue was voted on separately. This was overruled.
The vote for TAG's application means that the recently issued Local Plan has been ignored as TAG are now allowed 6% of planes using the airfield to be above 50 tonnes (as high as 80 tonnes maximum take-off weight). The Local Plan had set the weight limit at 50 tonnes with no exceptions. This means we will be having Airbus 319 and Boeing Business 737 Jets flying over our heads.
A sad day for the local people and their environment.
Background to the Airfield
Farnborough Airfield lies in an area of considerable nature conservation sensitivity, with significant expanses of wetland, grassland and heathland habitats in and around the site.
TAG Group SA (Luxembourg-based company) had applied under their wholly owned local subsidiary TAG Aviation (Swiss based company) to Rushmoor Borough Council for planning permission to turn Farnborough Airfield into a business airport.
Copies of the TAG planning application can be found in Rushmoor Borough Council (planning department, 1st floor) and Farnborough Library (reference section, 1st floor).
BVFoE opposed the planning application on several grounds - safety, noise pollution, air pollution, environmental destruction.
It is difficult to imagine a more inappropriate place for an airport than Farnborough. The quality of life for local people will suffer.
At the closing date of January 14th 2000 over 1400 letters were received by Rushmoor Council about the application, 1200 letters were objections. BVFoE would like to thank everyone who wrote in.
Meanwhile, at the Rushmoor Council meeting on June 19 the councillors voted to drop the Local Plan Inspector's recommendation of the 1 in 100,000 risk factor not going outside the airfield boundary in favour of installing Public Safety Zones. This opens the door for the approval of TAG's application and puts local people's lives in danger. Thanks for everyone who wrote to Rushmoor Council objecting to the fact that the Inspector's recommendation had been dropped and demanding that it be put into the Local Plan.
At the June meeting the councillors did not listen to what the many people that turned up were asking for : That a Second Public Inquiry is needed before they make any decision.
Blackwater Valley Friends of the Earth c/o 64A Park Road FARNBOROUGH Hants GU14 6LG tel 01252 510424 e-mail group@bvfoe.freeserve.co.uk Web www.bvfoe.freeserve.co.uk
Donations, offers of help, will be more than welcome.
This page last updated 24/10/00
BVFoE