Stansted Airport

 English Heritage has expressed fears for the future of the historic environment of Essex as a result of the Government’s decision to go ahead with proposals for a new runway at Stansted Airport.

It is feared that the proposals could result in the direct loss of nearly three square miles of historic Essex, including as many as 30 listed buildings and two nationally important ancient monuments. It could also have a serious impact on many adjacent properties and surrounding historic towns and villages including Great Dunmow, Thaxted, Bishop’s Stortford and Saffron Walden. These are part of England’s irreplaceable heritage.

This view is supported by the 1984 Planning Inspector’s report following the public inquiries which took place between 1981-3 into the development of a third London airport. He concluded: "The development of an airport at Stansted with a capacity in excess of 25 million passengers per annum (mppa) … would constitute nothing less than a disaster in environmental terms…if I believed … that a grant of planning permission for an expansion of Stansted to a capacity of 15 mppa would inexorably lead to an … airport development in the future to an unknown capacity, I would, without hesitation, unequivocally recommend the rejection of BAA’s current application." The Government’s proposals envisage that Stansted could be carrying 46 mppa by 2012.

In contrast, English Heritage welcomes the Government’s intention to ensure that, over time, the price of air travel reflects its true environmental and social impacts and that an effort has been made to reduce the impact on the historic environment of the expansion of Heathrow and Birmingham International.

Simon Thurley, Chief Executive of English Heritage, said: "As the Government's statutory adviser on heritage issues, we have consistently argued that all the proposed major airport developments would have a significant negative impact on the historic environment.

"The expansion of Stansted will have a serious effect on local heritage. This will be directly through the loss of historic buildings and archaeology, but also indirectly and in the longer term through the loss of overall amenity of historic towns and villages. The damage will not just be caused by the new runway itself, but also by the associated infrastructure and development."

He continued: "We remain concerned about the apparent absence of systematic measures to manage demand for future air travel. We will continue to press for the maximum protection possible. Heritage is not just about visible buildings and scheduled monuments, but also the whole of the historic landscape and buried archaeology."

English Heritage is now reviewing the detailed proposals. It will be looking to work constructively with the Government and partners in the heritage and environment sector as well as the airport operators and potential developers to ensure any proposals take full account of the impact on the historic environment. It will be pressing for the damage to be minimised, and for full mitigation strategies to be put in place.