Press Release for Farnborough Airfield 2

PRESS RELEASE

For Immediate Release 29/2/00
Local Groups say NO TO TAG and Rushmoor Council
Blackwater Valley Friends of the Earth leads local protest against the plans for commercial flying at Farnborough Airfield

PHOTO OPPORTUNITY

Demo at Farnborough Technical College, Farnborough Road

10am - noon Saturday 4 March 2000

A giant TAG axe and TAG saw will be used to symbolically cut down three cardboard trees

28/2/00

On Saturday 4 March local groups led by Blackwater Valley Friends of the Earth will again demonstrate their concerns about the planning application put in by TAG Aviation for commercial business flying at Farnborough Airfield, and in addition demonstrate about Rushmoor Council's proposed abandonment of the local people they are supposed to be serving.

The planning application for the operation of Farnborough Airfield was submitted to Rushmoor Borough Council by TAG, the proposed operators for commercial business flying, back in November last year. Rushmoor Council will not make any decision on it until the Local Plan has been finalised which is due to be done this month. Rushmoor council officers have made it clear that they intend to bend over backwards to keep TAG happy, even if this means compromising safety to the local people.

Rick Kimber the Press Officer for Blackwater Valley Friends of the Earth stated:

"Rushmoor council officers have stated that they intend to override the Inspector's recommendation because employment and economic benefits outweigh the safety issue. In other words the profits for multi-national Luxembourg based TAG Aviation are more important to the council than the safety and environment of the local people. However these unelected officers should not be dictating policy, at the end of the day it is up to the elected councillors to stop this travesty when the vote comes up on the Local Plan on March 7. With the elections coming up in May, the people will not forget any councillor who puts a multi-national before the local people they have been elected to serve"

The Local Plan Inspector recommended that the number of movements be restricted by the risk of an accident not exceeding 1 in 100,000 (which would have resulted in much less than 25,000 flights per year). Rushmoor council officers are advising to ignore this recommendation and instead put Public Safety Zones (PSZ) over Farnborough college and neighbouring houses. PSZ are really to stop development taking place and are of no use when buildings such as the college are already in place.

TAG have applied for 25,000 movements (landings and take-off) per year. The airfield currently has around 12,000 movements. If this application is successful there will be an increase of over twice the current level. TAG require an automatic right of revision when 20,000 movements are reached.

Other points that concern BVFoE and many residents in the area about TAG's application are:

Operation of the airfield to be from 07:00 until 22:00 on weekdays, and 08:00 to 20:00 on weekends (and bank holidays). Since most of the business aircraft movements will be during the early morning and evening then this will consequently mean that the noise is concentrated around these times, disturbing many local residents.

No maximum take-off weight limit to enable TAG to fly in planes of 80 tonnes (more than double the current limit of 35 tonnes, exceeding the Local Plan Inspector’s recommended maximum take-off weight of 50 tonnes). This would allow TAG to fly in Boeing 737’s for example.

Noise contour around the airfield to exceed the Local Plan Inspector’s recommendation. This for example will mean that Mytchett and Church Crookham now fall into the "low annoyance" contour, while Farnborough Technical College goes up into the "medium annoyance" category.

4 Sites of Special Scientific Interest will be affected. In the worst case the Bourley & Long Valley SSSI is to have 3 of its hilltops deforested and then lowered (50,000m³ of earth removed). During this work TAG admit that there is a risk that the Fleet Pond SSSI could become silted up if "not adequately managed ".

Significant number of trees to be cut-down around a large area at the canal and college ends of the runway in order to accommodate larger aircraft and therefore increasing the risk to residents under the flight-path.

Rushmoor will not meet its future DETR targets for air quality even without an airfield. TAG’s application will make the situation worse. The A325, Farnborough Road, is already recorded as one of the worst for air quality in the South – East outside London, and its getting worse every day with traffic growth.