A blanket mist of complacency has settled over the future of airports since the coalition government delivered on its commitment to block extra runways at Heathrow and Stansted.

Understandably, many people think that aviation threats to the environment and the economy have gone away for good, or at least for their lifetimes. Walkers on the recent Runway Ramble organized by Stop Stansted Expansion were down on previous years. Marching for what? (Well, I walked from Duton Hill to Thaxted and saw lots of commited campaigners en route.)

This Thursday Uttlesford Council has scheduled the first meeting of its airport advisory panel for eight months. So even the council’s members have been slumbering, despite the coalition government’s consultation on the future of aviation, which runs from end March to end September, now having run over half its course.

Anyway, there is a chance for members to start to get their heads around the current and future issues on Thursday morning and to give support and direction to their officers, who I am sure have not been sleeping. This is their report for Thursday’s meeting.

There is a risk with a council composed of only Conservatives and Liberal Democrats that a degree of complacency and tribal trust creeps in, whereas we need to be on top of the issues just as much as if there were still a Labour government.