Why we’re campaigning
Whilst accepting the need for a small regional airport at Southampton, we acknowledge that the Climate Crisis means we must all fly less.
What can you do?
1) Celebrate some successes!
Following the success of our petition (1900 validated signatures), Southampton City Council convened a special meeting of the Planning and Rights of Way (PROW) panel on Tuesday 28th January. AXO prepared a comprehensive objection speech and there was plenty of support for us before the meeting and in the public gallery!
This formal agenda with the planning officer’s report and consultation comments are here.
Despite two of the City’s departments having issued clear objections – on the basis of the development’s appalling impact on noise and climate change – the City planning officer recommended an overall ‘holding objection’, which effectively meant asking the airport to provide more information. AXO said this was not good enough.
The City Council panel voted against the holding objection, stood up for its citizens and issued a clear and unambiguous objection.
“AXO is very encouraged that SCC has come to this decision, with no votes against. It shows just how compelling the case against expanding Southampton airport is. We hope that Eastleigh will take this on board and that our government takes climate change, and building a green economy, seriously.”
Press coverage:
To see the full planning application for airport expansion submitted to Eastleigh Borough Council, click F/19/86707. The formal Environmental Statement and some public comments are under the ‘documents’ tab. Most public comments are under the ‘comments’ tab, but you have to scroll quite a way down to find them.
The consultation period has now closed (16/01/2020).
The application is likely to be considered by a specially convened meeting of the Eastleigh Local Area Committee (ELAC) on a date and location to be confirmed. If you would like to know when this is, join our email list aXoSOU@gmail.com
Don’t have time to read the planning application? We have! Read our summary of concerns.
2) Write to or meet an Eastleigh councillor
From now until the Eastleigh planning meeting (date unknown) write to your Eastleigh Borough Councillor here (to find your councillor and their contact details.)
If visiting cllrs, here’s a summary of issues that you can use. It might be worth recording cllrs, but do ask permission.
We’ve written a template you can use. See our blog.
3) Make a noise complaint
If you live near the flight path and are bothered by the noise of planes flying overheard please email “Noise complaints” at SOUNoiseComplaints@southamptonairport.com. You can do this every time a plane bothers you and they have to log it!
4) Join us at events
You can find out about upcoming AXO events by following us on Facebook.
5) Share the Campaign
Thanks to your support so far, the petition to Southampton City Council closed with 1,900 signatures, enough to trigger a full Council debate. See our blog for the evidence we presented.
Please continue to share as we put forward our objections to Eastleigh.
If you haven’t already, you can still express your opposition to airport expansion by signing the 38 degrees petition.
Please tick the ‘keep me informed’ box.
6) Get involved
The Airport Expansion Opposition (AXO) campaign is run by Friends of the Earth Southampton and partnered by other groups including Extinction Rebellion Southampton.
Join us at our next meeting to find out how you can get involved. Visit our Facebook page or email us at aXoSOU@gmail.com for more info.
Blog Posts
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A320 take-off profiles
Southampton airport is reported as having said that heavier planes taking off (if the expansion goes ahead) won’t be flying lower over Southampton. Hope this graph might make matters clearer. Basically this shows that the less loaded the plane (the greater the weight ‘decrement’) the steeper the take-off angle and the quicker the plane climbs… Read more
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Tree Canopy Coverage
A University of Southampton study reports that the 929 hectares of Southampton’s trees sequestre 2684 tonnes of CO2 annually. [https://eprints.soton.ac.uk/415849/2/Soton_i_Tree_report_final_v2.pdf page 7] This equates to 2.89 tonnes per hectare for the type and age of tree found in Southampton [note the 534 kg/hectare in the article refers to the number of hectares of Southampton that… Read more
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Arguments for Objection – Eastleigh
Please feel free to use any or all of the following points in your personal objection. However an objection framed in your own words will be more powerful. AXO’s own Objection is also below for further information Airport expansion needs to be considered on a regional/national level rather than at local level – expansion of… Read more
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Do nothing?
Chapter 4 of the Environmental Statement (Consultation and Alternatives) threatens the locality with SIAL moving elsewhere [e.g. 4.3.6], but does not address the benefits of doing nothing, which “is not an alternative option that has been considered further”. [4.3.8]. Rather odd, as Appendix 6.1 refers to ‘business as usual’ leading to 3.3 million jobs and… Read more
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Local aircraft NOx levels set to almost quadruple by 2027
Southampton City Council’s Transport Policy team wrote in October 2018 (as part of its comments on the airport masterplan – page 5 para 2 see below): “SCC is making significant effort to reduce emissions associated with road transport and this should not be viewed as an opportunity to generate further capacity for other sectors.” Table… Read more
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