Thousands object to expansion of Belfast City Airport
Thousands of residents have joined a campaign against the expansion of Belfast City Airport, which will tomorrow be named after football legend George Best.
Concerned locals claim strict European planning regulations designed to limit air and noise pollution are being violated.
But airport chiefs maintain restrictions on flight numbers and operating hours are being honoured, while future plans will face intense public scrutiny.
On Monday the airport will be the focal point for the latest and grandest tribute to Best, the iconic Manchester United winger who died last November.
But while locals have no issues with the new title they are concerned about the volume of air traffic, especially late at night, increasing passenger numbers and expansion proposals.
Jon Gillies of the Kinnegar Residents Action Group said EU laws designed to protect the area were being ignored.
Mr Gillies, 44, said: “They have been bulldozing regulations all over the place. The existing Planning Agreement has been ignored and broken repeatedly over a number of years and there has been no attempt to enforce compliance by the planning authority.”
Belfast City Airport is one of only four in Europe which is subject to special regulations as it is in a dense urban environment.
Mr Gillies, of Holywood, Co Down, said an average of two planes a day arrive at the airport after 9.30pm, the time at which no flights can be scheduled to arrive or leave.
On the environmental impact, he said: “The biggest and most obvious problem is noise for people who live in houses adjacent to the airfield.
“On a still evening in the summer some residents cannot go out of their doors because of the smell of aircraft fuel.”
The British Department of the Environment has appointed an independent panel to carry out an Examination In Public which will assess the airport’s 1997 Planning Agreement.
The EIP can then make recommendations to the planning authorities.
But Mr Gillies said such a move does not go far enough.
“We would like to see a full-blown public inquiry which looks at all aspects of the airport’s operations,” he said.
“No one is interested in seeing the airport closed. We just want to see it operating within the confines of the law.”
Belfast City Airport claim the seats for sale restrictions, which were introduced in the mid-90s before the new terminal opened, are outdated.
The regulation limits the number of passengers that can use the airport on an annual basis.
Airport chief executive Brian Ambrose also said less than 2% of flights arrived at the airport between 9.30pm and midnight due to unavoidable delays.
Mr Ambrose said: “If anyone expects and airport to operate 115 flights a day without delay then they don’t understand our business. It does not happen anywhere in the world.”
Mr Ambrose said the airport had no immediate plans to expand the runway but stressed such a move would require planning permission and a public consultation.
He also dismissed suggestions the airport intended to oversee an increase in larger aircraft.
The chief executive said he met with all the campaigners when he was appointed in 2004 and appreciates their concerns.
Mr Ambrose added: “I don’t have a problem with any of the residents groups at all. What I would assure them is that as we grow the airport it will be done within the toughest controls of any airport in the UK.”
