As a P.S. to my post of yesterday I provided a link to Stop Stansted Expansion’s press release and letter to the Secretary of State about Stansted Airport Limited’s (STAL) planning application for an increase in the airport’s capacity. The SSE letter provides some worrying allegations about the way in which Uttlesford District Council has been conducting the airport’s proposal. I have been a member of SSE since its inception in 2002. I have always been impressed by its professionalism and its ability to scrutinise effectively aviation proposals at London Stansted Airport.

The allegations against the council are so serious that I have written a letter to the Leader of the Council, Cllr Howard Rolfe. I have made this an open letter as I regard the matters raised and answers to the questions I have raised to be significantly in the public interest. The letter can be read here. I will be equally open and transparent with the responses that I receive.

In line with expectations of openness and transparency in local government, here’s when I met STAL in recent years:

a. September 2017 when STAL outlined their expansion plans and a colleague and I questioned them about noise, night flights, Open Skies, timing of the pending application and helicopter flight paths,

b. November 2017 on a UDC visit to the airport to see their current building plans for a new terminal, etc.,

c. January 2018 when STAL came to a council briefing to outline their reasons for wanting to lift the airport capacity limit. I questioned them on jobs vs housing, Brexit impact, poor airport pedestrian access and carbon emissions.