Airport may not be ready for Olympics (From Southend Standard)

Airport may not be ready for Olympics

10:00am Wednesday 1st July 2009

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THE expansion at Southend Airport may not be completed in time for the 2012 Olympics, worried councillors have revealed.

Councillors will not even begin looking at the results of the public consultation about the plans until the autumn.

A decision by both Southend and Rochford District Council on the results of the Joint Area Action Plan for the airport was originally expected before the summer recess in August.

But the massive amount of public response to the consultation has meant delays before there is any chance of a policy being put in place.

Southend Council leader Nigel Holdcroft said: “There have been delays particularly in Rochford with getting together all the responses. There certainly won’t be any further developments before the autumn.”

Privately, council sources are admitting the amount of opposition in Leigh and Eastwood to airport expansion and the extension of the runway and diversion of Eastwoodbury Lane is a major problem politically to the Tories whose majority on the council has reduced in recent years.

A source said: “If a decision can be put off until after the general election which is likely to be the same day as the local election in May next year, then there is a good chance the Conservatives will have a big majority and be able to go through with the expansion scheme.”

Keith Hudson, Rochford district councillor responsible for planning, said: “About 2,000 people sent comments in writing rather than electronically and these have all to be put into the system manually.”

Sources at Rochford Council say the council is still firmly committed to the airport and the jobs which could be brought into the area by the expansion.

An insider said: “Delays are unfortunate, especially with the clock ticking down to the 2012 Olympics, but we remain confident we will be able to have everything in place by then.”

No one from the airport was available to comment yesterday.

Alastair Welch, airport managing director, said he was not surprised there was going to be a delay in the local authorities making any decision on the joint area action plan because the consultation period had been extended from early April to mid May.

He added: “The plan covers many complex, interwoven topics and we would hope the local councils would fully consider the responses they have had to their recent consultation exercise.

“We continue to focus on the development of the local airport in time to support the Olympics in 2012.”

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