**GOVERNMENT GIVES GREEN LIGHT FOR AIRPORT DEVELOPMENT**

Welcome to the flysouthend2012.com website. This site aims to update you on the progress of proposals for development at the airport.

These proposals aim to deliver the significant improvements required to create a fully functional regional airport by 2012, providing the opportunity for local people from Southend, Rochford and surrounding areas to fly to a range of holiday and business destinations across Europe.

A planning application for these key improvements was submitted to Southend Borough Council on 13th October 2009. On Wednesday 20th January Southend Council's Development Control Committee passed the runway extension plan by a majority 14 votes to 3. The planning application was then passed to the local government office for review and on 19th March 2010 John Denham approved the plans for the airport's development. The improvements will deliver:

• An airport which caters for local demand, reducing the need to travel to the major London airports
• An extension to the existing runway allowing newer, more modern and quieter aircraft to use the airport
• Tighter restrictions on night noise, cargo volumes, night flights and the introduction of a cap on the total number of flights allowed
• The creation of many thousands of additional jobs both at the airport and in new business attracted to the area by the presence of the airport, the international connectivity it will bring and by the opportunity to do business with airport related enterprises
• A massive boost in new investment in the infrastructure of the airport
• Diversion (not closure) of Eastwoodbury Lane, coupled with improvements to St Laurence Park

This proposal is not just about the convenience of a local airport serving popular destinations, it is about the catalytic impact the development will have for Southend and Rochford, including over many thousands of additional jobs the airport will enable over the next ten years.