As a part of Stansted Airport’s bid to extend flight and passenger limits, it has announced plans to hold a series of community consultation events to gain valuable insights into the views of local residents.

A new website will also be launched to support and share information about the project, and for residents who cannot attend the live events to remain involved.

Further consultations between residents, community leaders and local businesses and Uttlesford District Council will follow the eight events, planned throughout the month of July in local towns and villages, and subsequent planning application submission by the airport.

Stansted is amongst the fastest-growing airports in the UK, and handles almost 25 million passengers annually. It has a current ‘cap’ on the annual number of passengers at 35 million, but the runway has capacity to deliver services for more than 44 million.

The CEO of Stansted Airport, Mr Andrew Cowan said, ‘By lifting the current planning caps, Stansted will be able to serve around 44 million passengers a year on its existing runway by 2030.  Making use of Stansted’s spare capacity will benefit not only the dynamic and fast growing east of England region, but also London and the UK.  It will support the creation of thousands of new jobs and billions of pounds in additional economic activity, and will ensure the UK succeeds as an outward-facing trading nation as we leave the EU.’

Understanding that the issues surrounding airport environments cause concern for local residents has prompted the airport to bring the community closer. It is important to the airport that information-sharing and listening to local concerns remains a high priority throughout the planning processes.

Mr Cowan continued, ‘We know that growth is a sensitive and important issue for people living close to airports and we are committed to engaging, listening and sharing as much information as possible as we develop our plans.” He went on to say: “We take our responsibilities to the communities around the airport seriously, and as part of our growth plan we will focus on operating in cleaner, quieter and smarter ways.  Our airlines have invested heavily in quieter and cleaner fleets helping to reduce our noise footprint and we are committed to going further to minimise the impact of noise disturbance. We will remain focused on providing employment opportunities for local people, building on the fantastic education, jobs and training schemes we have in place.  The hugely successful Aerozone education centre and our commitment together with Harlow College to invest in a new technical college at the airport demonstrates our ambition to go further in this area. Last year alone, we helped 800 local people access jobs.’