The countdown is on to save a beautiful swathe of Essex countryside from extinction by what protesters describe as the building of "a second Heathrow at Stansted airport.

With just 10 days to go before the end of the extended consultation process on the Government's proposal for up to three extra runways, Stop Stansted Expansion is launching its final push Members are calling on local people to convince Transport Secretary, Alistair Darling and Tony Blair that there are more effective options to solve the problem of airport capacity in the south east, other than wiping out whole communities, like Bambers Green, Brick End, Mole Hill Green and Woodgates End

On June 29, one day before the end of the consultation, former Beirut hostage, Terry Waite, who stayed in Broxted with the family of fellow prisoner, John McCarthy, following his release, will launch the Vanishing Villages campaign from the garden of a 400-year-old cottage which would be bulldozed if the airport was expanded by one runway.

The cottage, Oakmeads, is an example of the heritage at risk and is home to Sarah and Andrew Cousins and their two children. The family, says SSE, represents the 300 families whose lives would be shattered if expansion goes ahead.

Many thousands more across the region would also suffer from its impact, from increased development, noise, traffic and new roads

Broxted residents will be opening their gardens, and there will be three exhibition areas and displays on the Vanishing Villages circuit, designed to draw attention to the rural character of the area, a character that would vanish from more than 70 villages and market towns.

Thousands are expected to attend throughout the day of protest, and Terry Waite will lead a special prayer meeting at the Hostages Window of Hope in Broxted Church

This week Stop Stansted Expansion has had a flood of calls from anxious residents who have just realised that the time to make their voices heard is running out.

The advice from SSE, and from MPs, Sir Alan Haselhurst (Saffron Walden), Alan Hurst, (Braintree) and Mark Prisk (Hertford and Stortford) is that the best and most powerful way to make their protest is to write one last letter to Alistair Darling, copying the letter to the MPs.

Banks of computers are being set up in a field in Browns End Road, Broxted, on June 29 as a last minute letter writing point

Campaign director, Carol Barbone, said: "This is our last stand before we move on to even more intensive political lobbying to target those in Whitehall who will have influence over the contents of the Aviation White Paper, which is promised for the end of the year, and which could seal the fate of the region."

In Uttlesford District Council's supplementary response to the government's consultation paper, completed this week, says that opposition to expansion was very broadly based.

Published Friday, June 20, 2003

Brought to you by the Essex Chronicle