 FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS |
Where? Why? What? How? Who? When? True or False? Abbreviations Search
WHERE?
Where and when would any additional runway be built?
Click here
Where can I see maps of the impacts of the proposals?
Click here
Where can I find copies of documents from the 2007 Public Inquiry?
Click here
Where can I buy SSE's Calendar, Christmas Cards and Notelets?
Click here for information and order form
Where is the Stop Stansted Expansion wood?
At Broxted Hill - Ordnance Survey grid reference 587248. This is precisely where BAA now plans to position the north-east end of a second runway. This wood was planted by SSE volunteers in 2004.
Where can I find out more about the BAA Home Owner Support Scheme?
Click here
Where can I find out more about the 2003 Air Transport White Paper?
Click here
Where can I find out about SSE presentations to Schools?
Click here
Where can I see a copy of the DfT's original consultation proposals?
Click here to download a copy of the DfT's original South East England (SERAS) proposals
Where can I see a copy of SSE's responses to the DfT's SERAS consultation?
Click here to access SSE's responses to the DfT and to other Government departments and select committees
Where should I write if I want to complain about expansion proposals?
Click here for addresses of Government ministers
Click here for addresses of local MPs
Click here for details of SSE's current letter-writing campaign
Click here for guidance on how to write to the Press
Where can I see photos of listed buildings that are threatened by expansion?
Click here
Where can I obtain copies of posters, car window stickers, etc?
Click here or email or telephone (01279 870558) the Campaign Office
Where can I see the latest campaign news?
Click here to go to a summary of recent news items
Where can I see copies of old news items?
Click here to go to the news archive
Where can I find a copy of all SSE's Press Releases?
Click here
Where can I find out more about the White Paper Judicial Review in 2004/2005?
Click here
Where can I see photos of campaign events, etc?
Click here to go to SSE's photo gallery
Where can I see campaign cartoons, etc?
Click here to go to SSE's cartoon gallery
Where can I see the websites of other campaign groups?
Click here for links to other airport campaign groups and also to local community websites
WHY?
Why waste all this effort to oppose something that has already been decided?
There are many hurdles for BAA to overcome before expansion can take place. Most of the reasoned arguments are against expansion, and SSE will continue to press them for the good of the community around the airport and for the sake of future generations all over the world.
There is a conflict between the general thrusts of two government policies - on the one hand promoting aviation and on the other tackling climate change. SSE believes the latter is far more important and will eventually prevail.
The Air Transport White Paper makes it clear that Governments do not build runways, nor pay for additional infrastructure (roads, rail, etc) that is needed because of airport expansion. The onus lies with BAA, the current owner of Stansted Airport, and its Spanish parent company, Ferrovial, to raise the necessary substantial funds, to obtain planning permission and to ensure no UK or European environmental legislation will be breached. They face massive opposition.
The Civil Aviation Authority has declared that BAA may not subsidise operations at one airport from income at another. The major airlines do not want to use Stansted, and the no frills airlines do not want to pay increased landing fees which BAA's plans would incur. The financial risks associated with such a large scale investment for a questionable return, especially for a company already heavily burdened with debt, will deter banks and shareholders from pouring more money into an airport that has never made a decent return on capital employed.
Following a recommendation by the Office of Fair Trading in December 2006, the Competition Commission is due to rule on BAA's airport monopoly, especially its dominent market position in south east England. This could lead to Stansted coming under separate ownership, no longer able to benefit from cross-subsidy or cross-funding from Heathrow and Gatwick. News is expected in Summer 2008.
Stansted was first proposed as a major airport in 1965, but the local community, led by SSE's parent body NWEEHPA, fought off second runway plans then and in the following decades at two public inquiries and through a Royal Commission. The fight continues today.
NWEEHPA and SSE, often working together with local authorities and other campaign groups, have a history of putting spanners in the expansion proposals process and overcoming what at first seemed impossible hurdles. A second runway is not a done deal. Nor is any increase beyond the present limit of 25 million passengers per annum.
Why is Stop Stansted Expansion putting jobs at risk?
No existing jobs are at risk. The local area has little unemployment and in recent years the airport has had to recruit staff from well outside the area. SSE accepts that the airport is here to stay, but wants to stop any growth beyond 25mppa and to ensure that damage done to local people (including those who work at the airport) is kept to a minimum.
WHAT?
What is all the fuss about?
Click here for a brief overview
What can I do?
Click here to see what anyone can do
What is the latest news on the Public Inquiry?
Click here for access to key documents and SSE press releases
What is SSE?
Click here for an overview
What is NWEEHPA?
Click here to read about the origins of NWEEHPA and SSE
What organisations support SSE?
Click here to view a list
What impact does aviation have on health?
Click here for the Health Matters page
What is "Demand Management"?
SSE, and other organizations opposed to the unconstrained growth of air travel, argue that the Government should act to slow the growth in demand to a level that can be sustained by the environment and by the UK economy. Options available to Government include raising taxes on flying and limiting the number of runways. The White Paper sets out a policy to accommodate forecast demand in full, with no commitment to exercise constraint.
What is meant by an offshore airport?
During the period leading up to the publication of the White Paper, a number of suggestions for “offshore airports” were made for various locations in the Thames Estuary, connected by rail and/or road to car parks and other facilities onshore. All were dismissed in the White Paper as being too costly. The main advantage would have been that take-off and landing would be over the sea, thus disturbing fewer people. However, climate change impacts from aviation emissions would still be created, wherever the site.
What level of airport noise is permitted at night?
Night time operational limits, based on numbers of flights and types of aircraft, are prescribed by the Department for Transport (DfT) on a five yearly basis. Papers relating to the most recent DfT consultation can be accessed here.
What is the passenger throughput at Stansted Airport?
The most commonly quoted measurement is millions of passengers per annum (“mppa”). In 2007, Stansted handled 24 million passenger movements. Whilst this is more than four times as many as in 1997, growth has reversed since October 2007 and the numbers are now in decline. BAA has planning approval for the airport to handle up to 25 million passengers in any 12 month period.
What is the passenger throughput of other major UK airports?
In 2006, Heathrow had 67 million passenger movements, Gatwick 34m and Manchester 22m.
What is the level of freight movement at various airports?
In 2006, Heathrow handled 1,264,000 tonnes, Stansted 228,000 and Gatwick 212,000. Much of the freight handled at Heathrow and Gatwick is carried in the belly of scheduled flights, whilst Stansted's is largely on dedicated freighters.
What are the comparative numbers of total Air Transport Movements (ATMs)?
In 2006 the total ATMs, including passenger and freight movements, was: Heathrow 471,000, Gatwick 254,000, Stansted 190,000. Planning permission granted in 2003 limits Stansted to 241,000 ATMs in any 12 month period.
What is SSE spending all the money on?
Click here for a summary of SSE's income and expenditure
HOW?
How big would a two runway airport be?
BAA's proposals would increase the airport by 50% to around 14 square kilometers or 5.5 square miles. This area is similar to that enclosed by London's Circle Line.
How real is climate change?
The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change ("IPCC") was established in 1988 by the United Nations to increase understanding of climate change and assess its likely impacts and options for adaptation and mitigation. The IPCC's reports are generally regarded as authoritative. Its February 2007 report concluded that global warming is definitely occurring, with a 90% probability that the prime cause is human emissions of greenhouse gases. This report forecasts that world temperatures, sea levels and the frequency of heat waves and heavy rainfall will rise. IPCC plans to issue a further report in April 2007, dealing with impacts, adaptation and vulnerability, and another in May 2007 addressing mitigation.
How does aviation contribute to climate change?
It is widely accepted by climate scientists that climate change is accelerated by man's increased emission of greenhouse gases, primarily carbon dioxide (CO2), due mainly to the burning of fossil fuels in power stations, boilers and engines. The rapid increase in the world's population over the last 50 years has combined with an increasing use of energy such that the concentration of CO2 in the atmosphere has increased to levels far above what the Earth has previously experienced. This is causing the planet to warm noticeably. Aviation is the fastest growing cause of CO2 emissions, in the UK accounting for 6% of all emissions. Aviation is particularly damaging as emissions at altitude have a much greater impact than emissions at ground level. Most of the world's developed countries have signed up to the Kyoto Protocol, agreeing to reduce their emissions from levels in 1990. The UK target is a reduction of 20% by 2010 and 60% by 2050. However, emissions from aviation have been excluded from the targets, so there is a real danger that savings by householders, motorists, power stations and businesses, etc will be negated by increased emissions from jet aircraft.
SSE has estimated that Stansted Airport emitted the equivalent of 5 million tonnes of carbon dioxide in 2007. This figure would rise to around 12 million tonnes if full use of the runway were allowed and to 23 million tonnes if a second runway were built. 23 million tonnes would be more than the CO2 emissions from 4 million homes. You can see SSE's calculations here.
How can I join Stop Stansted Expansion?
Click here to print a Membership Application form
How can I help Stop Stansted Expansion?
Click here to see what anyone can do
How can I contribute photos for the next Community Calendar?
Click here to see plans for the next Community Calendar.
How can I complain about aircraft or airport noise?
If you are disturbed by a particularly noisy flight, complain either on the 24 hour Freephone complaints line (0800 243 788) or via the form on this site. Please treat this service responsibly - do not give BAA the opportunity to discredit the number of complaints received from the general public.
You should receive a detailed reply if your complaint refers to an incident involving an outgoing flight that was also detected as exceeding the noise limits when passing over one of the 4 noise sensors at each end of the runway, 6.5 km from the start of take off roll. There are, in practice, NO effective noise limits on arriving aircraft.
If you do not receive a reply, your complaint will still be logged and added to the quarterly statistics which are presented to Stansted Airport Consultative Committee (STACC), a body that monitors the airport.
How can I find out more about Stansted Airport's Noise Complaints procedures?
Ring the Freephone complaints line (0800 243 788) during office hours and ask for the leaflet describing the work of the Flight Evaluation Unit.
How can I report the smell of aviation fuel?
Click here to open up an online air quality form
How can I receive SSE's latest enews?
Click here to receive regular email news updates
How should I write to the Press?
Click here for guidance on how to write to the Press
How can I contact the SSE office or webmaster?
Email here
How can I print my own copies of posters?
Click here to download a poster ready for printing on A4 paper or card
WHEN?
When did events take place?
Click here to see the Timeline
TRUE or FALSE?
Do aircraft dump fuel as they approach to land?
We have been advised that they don't, but some people under the flightpath believe they do - we have heard them say they can see the aviation fuel on their fishponds and cars and see it coming out of the back of the plane. Perhaps someone could come up with a suitable explanation.
Is it true that there is already a second runway at Stansted?
No. During the war, the airport had three runways, in a triangular formation. One is the present runway, but the others have been built on and have no possible use as runways.
ABBREVIATIONS
AEF - Aviation Environment Federation
ATM - Air Transport Movements - number of plane take-offs or landings
ATWP - Air Transport White Paper ("The Future of Air Transport", Dft, 2003)
BAA - formerly British Airports Authority. Since 2006 it is owned by a consortium headed by Ferrovial, a Spanish infrastructure company. BAA owns and operates most large airports in the UK, including Heathrow, Gatwick and Stansted
CAA - Civil Aviation Authority - the UK's independent aviation regulator
DfT - Department for Transport - the Government department responsible for aviation
EERA - East of England Regional Assembly
ICAO - International Civil Aviation Organisation - founded in 1944 by the Chicago Convention, an international agreement that also outlawed tax on aviation fuel
IPCC - The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change was established in 1988 by the United Nations to assess the risk of human-induced climate change. The IPCC's reports are generally regarded as authoritative.
IPPR - Institute for Public Policy Research
LAQ - Local Air Quality
mppa - Millions of passenger-movements per annum - a return trip counts as 2 passenger movements
NATS - National Air Traffic Services Ltd - provides air traffic control services to aircraft flying in UK airspace
NFC - No Frills Carrier
NWEEHPA - North West Essex and East Hertfordshire Preservation Association - SSE's parent organisation. See here for more details.
OfT - Office of Fair Trading
PATM - Passenger Air Transport Movement
RCEP - Royal Commission on Environmental Pollution - a UK Government-sponsored body that has recommended the introduction of measures to reduce demand for air travel, including tax on aviation fuel
RSS - Regional Spatial Strategy
SRA - Strategic Rail Authority
SDC - Sustainable Development Commission
SERAS - "South East and East of England Regional Air Services Study" - the 3 year study commissioned by the Government, and whose key findings were included in the Department for Transport's Consultation document, issued in July 2002 and re-issued in February 2003.
Stansted ACC - Stansted Airlines Consultative Commitee
SSE - Stop Stansted Expansion is a working group of NWEEHPA - see here for further details
STACC - Stansted Airport Consultative Committee - a consultative body set up under government legislation to inform and consult on airport operational matters. The committee meets four times a year and includes representatives from the airport, local authorities and businesses, travel and passenger organisations and NWEEHPA.
STAL - Stansted Airport Ltd - the owner and operator of Stansted Airport, a wholly-owned subsidiary of BAA
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