Stop Stansted Expansion
You may have noticed an increase in the number of flights, some of which are breaching the 4000ft min height limit introduced to enable St Elizabeth's pupils to be effectively monitored

BAA have introduced a new service called Web Track which allows you to monitor all the flights and the heights, airlines, plane types via there website.

The link is as follows http://www.stanstedairport.com/portal/controller/dispatcher.jsp?ChPath=XYZStanstedNoise

We would encourage you to look at this website and email BAA with your comments.

Below is a letter written by Martin Dillon to BAA regarding their Rail Schemes Consultation. It refers to SSE's letter of 12 July.  This can be viewed at the SSE website - www.stopstanstedexpansion.com/rail.html.
 

27 July 2007

Dear Sirs                                                                                                         

Stansted Generation 2 – Rail Schemes Consultation

I am writing on behalf of Much Hadham Parish Council to comment on your document "Rail Schemes Consultation" to which I shall refer as the "RSC".

My Council considers that a second runway should not be built at Stansted. A second runway would be an environmental catastrophe for a rural area. The fact that I am writing to comment on the RSC does not represent any change of heart on the Council's behalf.

The RSC contains:

1. No rail occupancy forecasts for Stansted Express Services for the time before and after a second runway is projected
2. No rail occupancy forecasts for other trains using the West Anglia Main Line ("WAML") during those periods between Stansted Mountfitchet and Liverpool Street
3. No comments about who is to finance whatever improvements may be made to the WAML between Stansted Airport and Liverpool Street and what, if any, financial contribution BAA intends to make to those improvements
4. No details of how many extra trains per hour/week/month are expected to be able to run on the WAML as a result of the proposals
5. No explanation, let alone a justification, why the only proposals on which BAA is consulting consist of a third track and replacement platforms between (a) Angel Road and Enfield Lock, (b) Enfield Lock and Waltham Cross and (c) Angel Road and Tottenham Hale.

Without this basic information it is not possible to make a proper response to the RSC. The consultation exercise is accordingly flawed.

The deadline for the consultation is 31 July 2007. This is the very day when BAA is due to produce the rail occupancy forecasts being prepared by Planet v 3.2. Why not extend the period for consultation on the RSC until after those being consulted have been given a reasonable time to consider and comment on these forecasts?

The White Paper on the Railways, which was published earlier this week, makes it clear that the Government has decided to reduce the annual subsidy that it currently provides to Network Rail and to the train operating companies. The issue of finance will therefore be critical by the time that any improvements are made to the WAML. The issue should have been addressed and discussed in detail in the RSC.

My Council considers that if the proposals in the RSC were carried out, they would produce mostly cosmetic improvements; they have no doubt been designed to be as cheap as possible. The proposals do not make any attempt to provide a solution to the bottlenecks caused by the tunnels at Clacton and by the tunnels outside Liverpool Street. If the Government's proposals for the development of the M11 corridor proceed, then there will certainly be a substantial increase in the number of commuters using the WAML. It is extremely unlikely that the proposals in the RSC would alleviate overcrowding during rush hours because, assuming a third track is installed between Tottenham Hale and Waltham Cross, Stansted Express Services would be competing with other trains for the use of the tracks between Liverpool Street and Tottenham Hale and between Waltham Cross and Stansted Mountfitchet. The best solution, though expensive, would clearly be to build two new tracks from Liverpool Street to Stansted Airport via Tottenham Hale, so that Stansted Express Services in both directions would not need to use the same tracks as other trains. The RSC does not indicate that any consideration has been given to this proposal, which, we appreciate, would involve the expense of widening the tunnels at Clacton and outside Liverpool Street.

The proposals in the RSC are London centric. Many passengers using Stansted do not start their journey to the Airport from London. The RSC does not contain any proposals for the enhancement of the existing services from the Airport to Birmingham and other stations to the north because apparently BAA's forecasts indicate that this is not necessary. As the forecasts have not been provided in the RSC, it is not possible to comment on their accuracy. My Council has the impression that BAA, whatever it may say, has no qualms about most passengers continuing to travel to the Airport by car, thus providing parking revenue. BAA does not therefore wish to consult on or contemplate wide-ranging improvements to the WAML.

The Council's answers to the specific questions in the RSC are:-

1. Strongly agree.
2. Both.
3. Disagree. At present there are times of when Stansted Express are fairly empty. It obviously make sense for trains at those times of day to stop at some intermediate stations as well as Tottenham Hale.
4. Agree.
5. Disagree unless Stansted Express trains are to stop at Stansted Mountfitchet. We think it makes more sense for them to stop at Bishop's Stortford where the platforms are already long enough.
6 and 7. It is difficult to comment because the RSC does not explain what are the
      perceived benefits of the third track or why the only consultation is on its possible
      installation between Tottenham Hale and Waltham Cross.
8. Much Hadham Parish Council at the address shown above.
9. Please see above.

Much Hadham Parish Council has seen and agrees, subject to what I have said, with the comments in SSE's letter of 12 July 2007.

Yours faithfully
MLG Dillon
Chairman of Much Hadham Parish Council