Response to 'Old Mike'

Don't often find myself disagreeing with Old Mike. I can be a bit of a grouch myself, but on the matter of the heliport he's plain wrong. Whilst I agree there are often more than two sides to an argument it is seldom that all, or even two, are right. The BIH position, and Mike's, don’t stand up.

Mike says the Scilly Islanders have to put up with the noise and do so without complaint. They have to. They need the air link to support their tourism. The tourist industry in the West Penwith coastal area that will be effected by the move is attractive to tourists precisely because of its beauty and tranquillity. Far from supporting our tourism a heliport move will be hugely damaging.

How he can't understand the environmental outrage is beyond me. To allow the move BIH want to install over 60 new landing lights which will be visible from St Just to Carn Brea. Presently there are , I believe, 4. They will have to convert about 3 acres of open countryside into fenced car parking, presumably with security lighting to blight the night skies. They will need to construct new larger hangers and garages in an AONB where every other type of building work is heavily controlled and restricted Their passengers will add over 1.5 million vehicle miles a year [with a fuel burn of at least 50,000 gallons] to the roads between Penzance and the airport, much at the time of greatest holiday traffic congestion, in the peak summer months.

The Airport will suffer four times the number of flights as at present, from aircraft that are three times as noisy as fixed wing; a noise pollution increase of approaching 1000%, during these same peak months. According to the lighting plans BIH have submitted their flights paths would appear to be the same as the Skybus, presumably for safety reasons.

If so their noise and vibration will pass straight over all the major camping sites, holiday accommodation, tourist business's and the coastal footpath and nesting sites from Lands End to St Just, as will their fuel fumes. None of this happens in their present site as the noise and majority of the disturbance is lost over Mounts Bay and the Channel. And every one of the above breaches the Local, County and National environmental guidelines laid down precisely to protect our environmental heritage.

That, Mike, is the reason for the environmental outrage.

Agree with you about PDC though. In recent years they've done a sterling job. They'll be a hard act to follow.

A.C.White
Chair LEAAG