Press Release - 21 September 2004

Stop Stansted Expansion (SSE) has slammed BAA's Home Owner Support Scheme (HOSS) as a disgraceful abrogation of its responsibilities to the local community and a further demonstration that its key priority is to try to expand Stansted on the cheap.

The airport operator's requirement to bring forward the HOSS scheme to address the problem of generalised blight was clearly identified in the Government's White Paper (The Future of Air Transport, para 11.41). However, BAA's highly defensive brochure published today (21 September), deals only with specific noise blight which will affect homes within a 66 decibel noise contour.

Fewer than 500 homeowners are likely to qualify, mostly in the area of Brewer's End, parts of Bamber's Green and Duton Hill. The wider issue of generalised blight is totally ignored, however, resulting in thousands of local residents whose homes have been blighted by the threat of airport expansion being left out in the cold. Land Registry figures demonstrate conclusively that generalised blight is affecting some 12,000 homes in southern Uttlesford and on the East Herts borders.

"As BAA knows only too well, it is not just the issue of aircraft noise which is devaluing property values," said SSE Chairman Peter Sanders. "Property blight is a far more complex subject than that."

"The BAA scheme is a kick in the teeth for thousands of local families. We repeat our call, originally made to BAA's Chief Executive Mike Clasper in May, for the company to address the problem of generalised blight in a meaningful way. BAA will never be trusted within our community as long as it shows such blatant disregard for local people at the sharp end of the company's self-interested expansion proposals."

"SSE will be seeking an urgent meeting with the Department for Transport to discuss the inadequate BAA proposals. SSE already regards the Air Transport White Paper as fundamentally flawed. It will be even more discredited if BAA is now allowed to ignore the obligations arising from it," Peter Sanders concluded.

SSE is also calling upon BAA to publish the Government's comments on its proposed scheme and also to publish the results of the MORI poll of local homeowners which was carried out earlier this summer.

ENDS

Further information
Carol Barbone, SSE Campaign Director, 0777 552 3091 cbarbone@mxc.co.uk