STANSTED/M11 CORRIDOR DEVELOPMENT OPTIONS STUDY (issued 20 October by Stop Stansted Expansion)

The consultation period for this report ends on 31 October and it is vital that a huge number of objections are registered. We would like you to do this by email - which will be quicker and simpler than writing letters. The report has only been made available to the public via the web on www.eera.gov.uk/category.asp?cat=150 so it seems perfectly reasonable that our objections should also be sent electronically.

At the end of this note there are some suggestions for the points which you can make in your email but first a brief recap on the key points in the report:

The report deals with the future housing 'needs' for a large region of Essex, Hertfordshire and Cambridgeshire but the housing development proposals are focused within a 30 minute drive time from Stansted Airport. It is clear from reading the report that proximity to the airport dominates the thinking behind it - the need to provide houses close to where the jobs will be and close to the main arterial routes which serve the airport (M11 and the A120).

The report proposes 48,000 new houses for the local area if 'just' one extra runway were to built at Stansted. The major local housing developments would be as follows:

• Harlow would become 50% bigger with 14,600 new houses to the south west and north east to Sawbridgeworth
• Stansted Mountfitchet would become four times its present size - 7,300 new houses
• Great Dunmow would become three times its present size - 5,800 new houses
• Felsted and Elsenham would each have an adjacent new town - total of 14,100 houses
• Another new town would be built at the Hadhams if Stansted were to get two new runways
• Bishop's Stortford - 2,000 new houses to the north - in addition to 1,400 in the pipeline
• Braintree - 2,900 new houses - rising to 6,200 if two new runways were built

In effect, we would have a concrete jungle from Harlow to Elsenham and from the Hadhams to Braintree. These would be outrageous proposals at any time but to announce them just weeks before the government is due to announce its intentions for Stansted Airport is disgraceful.

The consultation period started on 22 September and runs only until 31 October. There has been virtually no publicity about this; documents are not generally available to the public; and it is not clear what questions are being asked, or of whom, or on whose behalf. The report itself is full of inaccuracies and inconsistencies. It is muddled. The whole process breaches almost every guideline within the 'Government Code of Practice on Written Consultation'.

BUT IF WE DO NOTHING ABOUT THIS REPORT, THE GOVERNMENT WILL ASSUME IT IS ACCEPTED.

There are many grounds upon which you can object. For example you can respond on the grounds of:

• a totally flawed and undemocratic consultation
• chronic over-development of a rural area
• loss of green belt
• unsustainability
• (airport) safety issues
• lack of infrastructure
• destabilisation of local communities or the environmental catastrophe which would ensue from the urbanisation of the whole area within a 15 miles radius of Stansted airport

Choose whichever issue or issues mean most to you personally. The important point is to register your objection as a matter of urgency, via email to: greg.lee@cbuchanan.co.uk

Remember to include your postal address on your email. The closing date for consultation is 31 October. YOU CAN MAKE A DIFFERENCE.

Norman Mead

Chairman, Stop Stansted Expansion

HOUSING CONSULTATION NEEDS YOUR RESPONSE BY 31 OCTOBER (issued 11 October by Stop Stansted Expansion)

The recent proposal to turn the area around Stansted Airport into an urban metropolis is subject to a disgracefully short period of "public consultation" that ends on 31 October. However, silence could be interpreted as an acceptance that we would not resist these grotesque proposals. We have just three weeks to make clear the strength of opposition. Please add your voice to the calls for restraint.

Copies of the draft proposal for the "Stansted / M11 Corridor" are available free from Essex County Council and can be ordered by telephone from Laura Chase on 01245 437544. Please order one today, and then write or email to give your views.

The report, by consultants Colin Buchanan and Partners, claims that a staggering total of 47,700 new houses would be needed locally if an additional runway were to be built at Stansted Airport. This is the conclusion of a study commissioned by the County Councils of Essex, Cambridgeshire and Hertfordshire, the Government Office for the East of England (GO-East), the East of England Regional Assembly (EERA) and the East of England Development Agency (EEDA).

In the event of one additional runway, the report proposes 14,600 new houses for Harlow, 7,300 for Stansted Mountfitchet and 5,800 for Great Dunmow. In addition, there would be a new town near Felsted and another between Elsenham and Henham. These two new towns would have 14,100 new houses between them. A further 2,000 new houses would be added to Bishop's Stortford, 2,900 at Braintree and another 1,000 houses at other sites in the local area. In total, 47,700 new houses.

This scale of new housing - for 'just' one extra runway would increase the population of Harlow by 50%, while Stansted Mountfitchet would grow four-fold and Great Dunmow would grow three-fold. The report, which also sets out the local housing implications if an additional two or even three new runways were built at Stansted can also be viewed (with some patience) at www.eera.gov.uk/category.asp?cat=150.

Remember, the so-called "public consultation" period runs only until Friday 31 October 2003. Comments should be sent to:

Greg Lee

Colin Buchanan & Partners

Newcombe House

45 Notting Hill Gate

London W11 3PB

Email greg.lee@cbuchanan.co.uk