Those who had their plans to develop a major commercial airport at Halfpenny Green turned down by the Secretary of State in last year’s White Paper are at it again.  They are seeking to obtain, by a series of planning applications to the Local Authority, what the Secretary of State denied them.  Their latest ploy is to apply for an extension of the runway which would in itself involve disruption and road closures but would enable them to fly in passenger jets.  They know very well that the infrastructure of roads around Bobbington is utterly unsuited to a major airport and so they would then press for wider roads.  The net result would be the devastation and destruction of one of the most beautiful parts of rural England – a monumental crime of vandalism against the environment.  I shall continue to do everything I can to oppose these expansionist plans and I hope the Council will remain resolute.  I have every confidence that it will.  However, it is necessary for local people to continue to demonstrate their objection to what is threatened.  Last year, in the lead up to the White Paper, I received some 13,000 letters and the neighbouring MPs, for whose support I was exceptionally grateful, received, collectively, a similar number.  It was a massive demonstration of public opposition and took a lot of organising but I fear the exercise needs repeating.

Just as I was about to send this to the Mercury came news of the proposals for yet another motorway.  I will return to that in a future article.