Lydd Airport

Quite unexpectedly local councillors approved, with a 2 to 1 majority, an expansion of the local airport.   Of course the minority who are against any expansion are up in arms threatening public  enquiries and  delaying any development for at least 2 years.    It would seem the councillors, who were not expected to back the proposals, actually listened to their electorate and voted on behalf of the majority of locals who are not against the expansion.   Democracy comes to the Romney Marsh!   Apart from those who wish to  preserve wild life at all costs (it is a great pity they cannot put their energies into preserving the human species) the most opposition seems to come from those who have moved to the area in the not so distant past and fully aware of the existence of an operational airport.   They now feel their lives will be blighted by all the noise and pollution!   They should have been here in the fifties and sixties when silver City Airline were flying up to 200 flights per day in their dirty loud Bristol Freighters.   New proposals will probably see 10 flights per day from a lot quieter cleaner modern jets.   (It was interesting to hear on a recent BBC Radio 4 programme that for every ton of cement produced a ton of pollutants are discharged into the atmosphere and  that the total out put of pollutants in the production of cement is greater than all that produced by all the aircraft currently flying today.   Lets hear it for finding an alternative to cement production!   -  No it wouldn't work - not glamorous enough is it?

Human beings must come first and if there is an individual or company willing to inject millions of pounds into the local economy they should be welcomed with open arms.   If there are concerns with the ecology they should be addressed and resolved but to try to stop a project because a little known slug, protected by the European Union could be endangered is beyond comprehension.   Makes one wonder what would have happend during the industrial revolution if there had been protesters of the same ilk as we have today.