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Letter to the Leicester Mercury for publication

The Editor
Leicester Mercury
St George Street
Leicester
LE1 9FQ

7 June 2005

Dear Sir

As I know from my own postbag, a good many of your readers are only just beginning to appreciate the true consequences of the new flight paths over east and south east Leicestershire in and out of Nottingham East Midlands Airport, which were introduced at NEMA’s request with the blessing of the Civil Aviation Authority and the Department for Transport just hours after the general election in May. It is clear that people now know what I and others have been predicting for some while, namely, that their lives and properties are being blighted by low flying aircraft that are destroying the previously unsullied quality of their environment at night and during the day. It is no doubt the earnest hope of NEMA, the CAA and the Government that we will just get used to the noise and decide that it is far too much trouble to complain so that before long that the noise and air pollution will become an accepted part of our lives. They are relying on public inertia and typical British unwillingness to make a fuss to win the argument.

My advice to anyone who is not satisfied with what is being done to them by NEMA, the airlines, the CAA and the Government is to take action rather than lie down and say it is all too difficult. You have a right to complain that the quality of your lives is being damaged by commercial interests whose main aim is to make a profit at your expense and who, if in Government or its hinterland, know or believe it is far too difficult for the “small man” to win against the forces of central government and its allies.

Wrong. The small man has a voice and it only requires him to use it. Complain if you are suffering from noisy low flying aircraft that keep you awake at night and ruin the quite enjoyment of your house and garden during the day. Do not accept the spin and half-truths you are fed by these inanimate authorities who have no care for your quality of life and treat you as inconvenient hindrances to the completion of their aims.

Write to your MP, your MEP, your County Councillor, your District Councillor and the Environmental Health Department at your local council, to the Environment Department at Nottingham East Midlands Airport, Castle Donnington, Derby DE74 2SA, to the Chief Executive of National Air Traffic Services and to the Secretary of State for Transport, both at the Department for Transport at 76 Marsham Street, London SW1P 4DR, and to Sir Roy McNulty at the Civil Aviation Authority, 45-49 Kingsway, London WC2B 6TE and let them know precisely what you feel and why.

They are all relying on your keeping quiet and demonstrating British reserve. Why not surprise them and we might even get them to pay attention to us, the very people who pay their wages. Go on, it’s worth the effort.

Yours faithfully

Edward Garnier QC MP (Harborough)
House of Commons
London SW1A 0AA

Edward Garnier