SSE acts to mobilise local opposition in three counties

Over 50 public meetings have been organised for the coming months across Essex, Hertfordshire and Suffolk as part of Stop Stansted Expansion’s (SSE’s) drive to alert local communities to the scale of BAA’s ambitions for Stansted and to mobilise local opposition.

The meetings, which have been largely organised with the support of parish councils, will spell out BAA’s desire to make Stansted Airport one third bigger than Heathrow is today, explaining the local implications if BAA were allowed to proceed with its plans, and provide an opportunity for public debate.

The meetings will also offer an opportunity to explain how local communities can each play their part in preventing expansion proposals from becoming a reality.

The intensive programme of public meetings reflects the high level of concern amongst communities within a wide radius of the airport. More than 600 people packed into Stansted Mountfitchet School Hall in early January – with many more unable to get in – when SSE arranged its first major public meeting since the publication of the government White Paper in December.

Each meeting will feature a speaker from SSE, drawing on the involvement and local knowledge of Chairman Norman Mead, his two Deputy Chairmen Peter Gowan and Peter Sanders and other members of SSE’s executive committee.

Commenting on the programme, Norman Mead said: “Since the publication of the White Paper there has been an upsurge in support for the campaign to prevent the devastation of this local area People are beginning to take on board what it would mean to have an airport bigger than Heathrow in our midst and looking for information and advice on how to stop this from happening.”

“These meetings will demonstrate that development is not a foregone conclusion by any means and that, acting together as a community, we can block BAA’s ambitions to bulldoze our local environment,” he concluded.

Further meetings are being added to the list on a daily basis. The SSE website contains the full list of parish meetings that have been planned and will be kept updated to reflect additional events as they are organised. See www.stanstedairportwatch.com. Further information can also be obtained by calling the campaign office on 01279 870558 or emailing info@stanstedairportwatch.com.

NOTES

The meetings at which SSE will speak are largely parish council meetings open to the public. Details of the programme as at 26 January 2004 appear below.

FEBRUARY
02.2.04 Buckland & Chipping – 8pm – Crown Inn, Buntingford
09.2.04 Langley – 8pm – Community Centre Langley Upper Green
10.2.04 Manuden – 7.30pm – School Hall
10.2.04 Great Canfield – 8pm – Church Hall
16.2.04 White Roding – 7.30pm – Village Hall
17.2.04 Wareside – 8pm – Village Hall
19.2.04 Fyfield – 8pm – Village Hall
19.2.04 Nazeing – 8pm – Leisure Centre at Bumbles Green

MARCH
01.3.04 Wendens Ambo – 7.30pm – Village Hall
01.3.04 Great Hallingbury – 7.30pm – Village Hall
02.3.04 Epping Upland – 7.30pm – School Hall
03.3.04 Little Bardfield – 8pm – Village Hall
03.3.04 Little Easton – 8pm – Memorial Hall
04.3.04 Much Hadham – 7.30pm – Village Hall
08.3.04 Eastwick & Gilston – 8pm – St Bottolphs Church
08.3.04 Newport – 7.30pm – Church House
08.3.04 Stapleford Abbotts – 7.15pm – Village Hall
08.3.04 Ashdon – 7.30pm – Village Hall
09.3.04 Willingale – 8pm – Village Hall
11.3.04 Little Chesterford – 8pm – Village Hall
11.3.04 Moreton & the Lavers – 7.30pm – Magdalen Laver Village Hall
15.3.04 Thorley – 8pm – St James Village Hall
16.3.04 Finchingfield – 8pm – Village Hall
16.3.04 Leaden Roding – 8pm – Village Hall
16.3.04 Hartest – 7.30pm – Boxted & Hartest Institute
17.3.04 Saffron Walden – 7.30pm – Town Hall
18.3.04 Hadstock – 8pm – Village Hall
19.3.04 Standon & Puckeridge Amenities Society
22.3.04 Hunsdon – 7.30pm – Village Hall
22.3.04 Ugley – 8pm – Village Hall
23.3.04 Little Hallingbury – 8pm – Village Hall
24.3.04 Hatfield Heath – 7pm – URC Church
26.4.04 Arkesden – 8pm – Village Hall
29.3.04 Farnham – 8pm – Village Hall
31.3.04 Aston – 8.30pm – Aston School

APRIL
01.4.04 Stanstead Abbotts – 7.45pm – Ashlea Room, Parish Hall
05.4.04 High Roding – 8pm – WI Hall
05.4.04 North Weald – 8pm – Queens Hall
06.4.04 Henham – 8pm – Village Hall
08.4.04 Theydon Bois – 8pm – Village Hall
14.4.04 Birchanger – 8pm – Village Hall
19.4.04 Radwinter – 7.30pm – Village Hall
19.4.04 Sudbury – 7pm – Town Hall
21.4.04 Cavendish – 7.30pm – Memorial Hall
22.4.04 Brent Pelham – 7.30pm – Village Hall
23.4.04 Great Bardfield – 7.30pm – Village Hall
26.4.04 Elsenham – 8pm – School Village Hall
26.4.04 Nayland with Wissington
27.4.04 Birdbrook – 8pm – Village Hall
28.4.03 Steeple Bumpstead – 7.30pm – Lecture Hall

MAY
11.5.04 Chrishall – 8pm – Village Hall
12.5.04 Hatfield Broad Oak – 8pm
12.5.04 Roxwell – 7.45pm – Roxwell School
17.5.04 Berden – 8.15pm – Village Hall
17.5.04 Bradwell – 7.30pm – Village Hall
20.5.04 Stebbing – 8pm – Friends Meeting House