Have your say on airport expansion (From Barry And District News)

Have your say on airport expansion

CARDIFF Airport revealed expansion plans last week - and a series of public meetings is being held so local people can have their say on the proposals.

The plans could cost up to 100 million and include extensions to the terminal building and multi-storey car parks, with passenger numbers expected to grow to eight million a year by 2030.

Airport bosses have launched the 25-year master plan in response to the Government's white paper on the future of air travel, which was published in 2003.

They claim that the expansion of the airport will mean a limited impact on the locality and the environment.

The plan states that development will be limited to within the airport's existing boundaries and that it will "lead to a relatively small increase in the population exposed to noise levels".

Figures in the plan suggest that there are currently 97 residents affected at the lower end of the noise pollution scale.

This will increase to 310 and the plan claims that no-one will be affected at the high end of the scale which will remain at zero. This compares with 13,000 residents at Heathrow Airport.

Public meetings will be held over the next six weeks before the airport's plans are taken to the Department for Transport. Members of the public can download copies of the plan from the Internet and comment on them via the airport's website and by calling a'hotline'.

Jon Horne, Managing Director of the airport, said: "Unlike many other airports, we do not expect to need more land nor create significant environmental impact from our current premises.

"In addition, judicious use of public transport with intelligently developed road and rail access will also minimise the effect on our surroundings.

"It's the launch of the consultation process and it gives us an unprecedented opportunity to have a dialogue with everybody."

The airport has faced stiff competition from Bristol Airport over the last 10 years, which has experienced dramatic rises in passenger numbers.

The plans, which include better road links, have come in for criticism from environmental group Friends of the Earth, which is concerned about an increase in CO2 emissions, a cause of global warming.