Staverton: meeting planned

Last week the discussion by Gloucester City Full Council of the Airport expansion plans was deferred at, it seems the request of the Airport. See my letter today to press here.

Cartoon: another cartoon from local scribbler Russell

This is disappointing as the only sane option open to the Council is to knock the plans on their head for good. However at least with the extra time we now have a commitment that the Council will meet protesters to hear their side of the story - something the Joint committee completely failed to do - a shameful disregard for democracy, real consultation and more - anyhow Alison Parfitt had this letter below in The Citizen on Saturday - it covers the issue well:

Throughout the bitter controversy surrounding the development proposals at Gloucestershire Airport, local councillors, especially the Lib Dems, have consistently claimed they would not allow the airport to expand. The airport itself has also claimed its plans don't amount to expansion and that noise levels would stay the same. These claims have always been ridiculed by protesters.

In case you ever believed the 'no expansion' statements from the airport I refer you to Cheltenham Borough Council's Cabinet announcement on February 12, when it relayed news from the airport that a cap of any less than 100,000 flights a year could limit its viability.

The current figure for flights in the business plan is 88,000 - 12,000 extra flights a year is a big expansion in anyone's book. So the airport, using your money and mine, has briefed us incorrectly throughout this sorry episode. But full marks to the Gloucester City Council scrutiny and overview committee for rejecting the airport's proposals on March 3.

How revealing it is that in response, an airport spokesman suggests that the airport will press the council to see the "right" decision is made (Citizen, March 5). So just who is calling the shots - the airport's staff or our councillors? We should not let the airport hijack democracy like this, and we should certainly not give the airport a one-way ticket to expand.

Alison Parfitt, Cheltenham