BAA mortgaging our futures?

Reports that BAA has mortgaged its entire assets and taken out mortgages on dozens of local homes are nothing else but staggering.The news comes as it is also reported that a public inquiry into its proposals for a second runway could still be years away

The Stop Stansted Expansion campaign group has said that documents recently filed with Companies House show BAA Stansted has mortgaged its entire assets and even taken out mortgages with the Royal Bank of Scotland on at least 39 local homes bought by the company in connection with its plans for a second runway.

I have repeatedly questioned the need for a second runway giving falling passenger numbers and a drop in the number of flights to and from the west Essex airport. I've said time and time again that there is no need for second runway. Now, it appears, BAA is mortgaged up to the hilt and continues to blight peoples' lives with its proposals that are totally unnecessary.

The Conservatives have already said that they will scrap proposals for a second runway. This pledge was made by Shadow Transport Secretary Theresa Villiers when she visited Harlow and Hastingwood and met with me last March. According to Stop Stansted Expansion, BAA’s financial accounts for 2009 show that Stansted's operating profit slumped from £81 million in 2008 to £27 million last year, reflecting the sharp downturn in passenger numbers and flights at the airport.

Given the gravity of BAA's reported financial position, how on earth can be remain committed to a £3 billion second runway project - the cost of which will only soar, in sharp contrast to the planes which remain grounded because of the drop in passengers wanting to make use of air travel to and from Essex?

by Robert Halfon - www.roberthalfon.blogspot.com

No to BAA!

I am passionately against an extra runway at Stansted Airport and I think BAA has a lot to answer for. Heathrow Airport - except T5 is a disgrace. I am glad that BAA will now be forced to sell off Stansted and I have issued the below Statement to the media in response:

Press release
Issued: March 19, 2009

PROSPECTIVE CONSERVATIVE MP HAILS STANSTED SELL-OFF AS GOOD NEWS FOR LOCAL PEOPLE - AND THE GREEN BELT

NEWS that Stansted Airport operator BAA must sell the west Essex airport is good news and should safeguard thousands of acres of land from being concreted over as part of the controversial plans for a second runway, according to prospective Conservative MP Robert Halfon.

Mr Halfon, who will be contesting the Harlow parliamentary constituency which includes Hastingwood, Nazeing, Roydon and Sheering, said: "This announcement is good news for residents in Harlow, Hastingwood, Nazeing, Roydon and Sheering.

"Residents have been badly served by the attempts by Gordon Brown and BAA to
bulldoze through an extra runway, destroying our countryside and cherished green belt and causing significant environmental damage through pollution.

"Thank goodness, a future Conservative Government is opposed to a second runway and will not allow it to be built, despite Gordon Brown's determination to have one dumped on us.

"Hopefully BAA will now concentrate on properly running Heathrow Airport at
last."

The sale announcement was made by the Competition Commission and means BAA
must sell off Stansted, Gatwick and either Glasgow or Edinburgh.

Shadow Transport Secretary Theresa Villiers said: "The Conservatives have been calling for BAA's monopoly to be broken up for over a year so I welcome the Competition Commission's recommendation that BAA should loosen its grip and sell Gatwick and Stansted.

"We will continue to keep pressure on BAA to ensure it improves the quality of service it gives customers in the airports it retains. Only then will it be possible to address the Heathrow hassle that can cause so much frustration to business passengers and holiday-makers."