Anger is driving people to volunteer their expertise to fight Government proposals to put up to three extra runways at Stansted Airport.

At a packed meeting called by airport watchdog, North West Essex and East Herts Preservation Association, (NWEEHPA) people queued to form a new campaign group and offer their help in opposing government plans to turn Stansted into one of the world's largest airports.

A four runway airport could take 122 million passengers per annum (mppa). Stansted's current figure is 14.5 mppa.

NWEEHPA general secretary Norman Mead said the meeting was full of very angry people.

"We had all sorts of people from political lobbyists to an eminent medical professor come forward and offer their expertise."

The opposition group has decided to fight the proposals under the banner of Stop Stansted Expansion with Mr Mead as chairman, and will be challenging the Government's claim that airport capacity must increase fourfold in the south-East by 2030.

More in this week's Stansted Life

Published Friday August 9, 2002

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