THE extent of the “enormous land grab” being proposed for a second runway at Stansted Airport will come under the spotlight on Sunday.A motorcade of an expected 100 cars decorated with balloons and anti-expansion posters will tour some of the communities directly threatened by airport expansion plans.

By Sharon Asplin

THE extent of the “enormous land grab” being proposed for a second runway at Stansted Airport will come under the spotlight on Sunday.

A motorcade of an expected 100 cars decorated with balloons and anti-expansion posters will tour some of the communities directly threatened by airport expansion plans.

Stop Stansted Expansion says the objective of the 26-mile marathon, which will take around 1.5 hours to complete, is to enable people to see for themselves the gigantic scale of the development being proposed for the airport.

The convoy, organised by Stop Stansted Expansion, will be led by a 1947 Bentley Clubman Coupe in campaign colours - yellow and black - and a 1914 Rolls Royce Silver Ghost, weather permitting, lent for the occasion by Great Easton vintage car specialists P&A Wood.

The motorcade will set off from Birchanger Services at 10.30am and pass through countryside and villages such as Burton End, Broxted, Molehill Green and Bambers Green which are affected by BAA's preferred runway plans.

The route will also take in some of the neighbouring villages including Henham, Elsenham, Tilty, the Eastons and Takeley. The motorcade will not be passing through the existing airport site.

Campaign director Carol Barbone said: “While the outrageous size of the land grab being proposed by BAA is of serious concern given the 87 homes - including 25 listed buildings - and 627 hectares of countryside that the company wants to destroy, this is only the tip of the iceberg. The impacts of an expanded Stansted would in fact be felt much further afield.”

She claimed noise from increased air traffic would affect great swathes of the region and there would be huge increases in carbon dioxide emissions from the extra aircraft using the airport as well as from cars accessing an expanded airport by road.

Stansted Airport does not comment on individual campaigns while the public consultation, which ends of March 24, is ongoing.

Previously it has told the East Anglian Daily Times that expansion plans could see the number of passengers leap to 76million a year by 2030 and airport operator BAA has shortlisted seven possible options for the £2.7billion project.

Its preferred option, to the north-east of the existing runway, would take the least land and BAA hopes the second runway will be open by 2013 and create about 26,000 jobs.