News Date: Thursday 15th September 2005
Sale of Shoreham Airport - response by Tim Loughton MP and Adur Council Leader Councillor Neil Parkin
In a joint statement issued by the MP for Adur and Conservative Leader of Adur Council questions have been raised about the details of the airport sale and the lack of consultation. The two elected representatives said:
"We note the announcement from Brighton & Hove and Worthing Councils about the sale of Shoreham Airport. We welcome indications that it is unlikely to be necessary to expand the runway to accommodate a substantial increase in commercial flights as was originally proposed and which met with near universal criticism from our constituents. We also welcome indications of plans to create new jobs which we hope will be primarily for local people.
However, what is missing from the press release is any mention of Adur, which is where the airport is actually located and where Adur Council is the planning authority. No elected representatives in Adur have been consulted about this sale and no notice was given about the timing of this announcement or its details. Unfortunately this is in keeping with the incompetent consultation which originally accompanied the wholly unsustainable plans for airport expansion, since when the people of Adur have been consistently kept in the dark. We very much hope that the new owners will take a more enlightened and transparent approach to working with local people, Adur Council and its MP.
We are particularly concerned about improvements to the transport infrastructure which will be vital to make airport expansion viable. The restoration of an airport rail link is an attractive idea but was previously rejected by Railtrack as unviable and we question what discussions have taken place to make this a strong prospect now. The mention of a park and ride scheme is presumably to enable people to take the train into Brighton or Worthing and must necessarily mean attracting many more cars to the Airport, putting enormous pressure on already congested roads without significant investment.
We welcome the vision that the announcement refers to but it is essential that the Airport owners engage fully and urgently with local people and their elected representatives to make sure that this vision will not be pursued at the expense of the quality of life of the people who live in Adur."
ENDS
Tim Loughton MP , 2005
