Air support

I AM one of the silent majority of your readers who support Stansted Airport. Week after week we read the same scaremongering letters in your paper from SSE supporters and it s time that more publicity is given to the positive side of developments at our

I AM one of the silent majority of your readers who support Stansted Airport. Week after week we read the same scaremongering letters in your paper from SSE supporters and it's time that more publicity is given to the positive side of developments at our airport.

I have worked at Stansted Airport for 40 years, helping it to grow from some 100,000 passengers a year to more than 23million a year without ruining the area.

My opinion was confirmed recently by a report announcing Uttlesford was one of the best places to live in the UK!

How can this be after 50 years of airport development at Stansted?

Let me remind readers the benefits the airport brings: Over 2,500 residents, eight per cent of the working population of Uttlesford, earn a living there.

Stansted currently contributes approximately £400million into the regional economy, and is the biggest single site employer in the East of England.

A CAA passenger survey in 2004 showed that some 70,000 Uttlesford residents make more than 115,000 journeys a year through their local airport, nearly 40,000 of which are for business purposes.

Passenger demand in the South East is expected to increase by about four per cent a year over the next

10 years.

In order to meet this demand, BAA's planning application seeks to remove the existing passenger limit on air transport movements from 241,000 a year to 264,000. I was one of a number of people to support this application.

Derek Winter

Ridley Gardens

Elsenham