Letter to the Editor - Redhill Airport (Reigate Liberal Democrats)

Reigate Liberal Democrats <info@reigatelibdems.org.uk>

Letter to the Editor - Redhill Airport

October 23, 2003 12:00 AM
By Chris Howell - Reigate Lib Dem Executive in Surrey Mirror

Jon Cousens of "London Redhill Airport" (Letters, 16/10/03) replies to Councillor Sylvia Gammon by saying that in the public debate there are those who are for the development of Redhill Aerodrome. I have yet to come across any at all among the residents of Earlswood and Whitebushes; I can only assume those for the plan are limited to shareholders in the said aerodrome. And any "indifference" to the proposals tends to disappear very rapidly once residents see the map of the proposed Airport, filling almost every available square metre between the A23 and M23 as it does.

LRA investors have every right to try and make money; but not at the expense of ruining the living conditions of many thousands of others.

But even those so rightly against the scheme seem to me to be downplaying the most literally sickening aspect of the development if it goes ahead - that of air pollution. Jerome Lynch QC in his article in last week's Mirror mentions that the combined pollution from Gatwick and the new Redhill would exceed EU limits, but what does this mean in practice? When my family lived in Crawley, we suffered from some of the worst air pollution levels in Britain, and when my then 6-month-old son was diagnosed as asthmatic the doctor put this down to the air pollution, and predicted that once we moved out of the immediate area of Gatwick the condition may well disappear.

He was prescribing inhalers for breathing conditions at a rate many times the national average for a GP. Sure enough, we moved to Royal Earlswood Park and my son's asthma disappeared in less than a month and has not returned in three years since. Coincidence? The doctors don't think so. And Mr Cousens, no "generous provision for compensation" can compensate for the sickness of our children.

Put this aspect together with the destruction of so much green belt land and the inevitable noise pollution, and London Redhill is set to be an environmental disaster. No wonder every other developed country looks to build new airports as far as possible from existing urban areas - as should we.