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THE TRANQUILITY of a rural community in Suffolk is under threat from a proposal of airspace changes for Stansted Airport.

Needham Market is a small town of listed buildings and small individual shops surrounded by Suffolk countryside. But the rural tranquillity it currently experiences could change next year.

The National Air Traffic Service (NATS) have proposed changes to the airspace around Stansted Airport in the Terminal Control North (TC North) Airspace proposal. If the proposal is passed by the Civil Aviation Authority (CAA) the changes will be put in place by the beginning of next year.

NATS want to create a new stack, or hold, for aeroplanes destined for Stansted Airport above Needham Market and the surrounding villages. The stack will be approximately five miles long and two miles wide.

The proposed stack is above Needham Market because one of the current stacks for Stansted Airport is near an area of outstanding natural beauty; Dedham Vale. The residents in that area have complained about the aeroplane noise from the stack so it is being moved.

Stacks are designated areas for arrival flights to fly through before they descend to the runway. The ceiling height of a stack is fourteen thousand feet, and the lowest point is seven thousand feet. Aeroplanes fly through it at one thousand foot intervals and have to leave it at seven thousand feet. On average it takes four minutes for an aeroplane to fly through a stack.

Wendy Marchant, 68, of the High Street, Needham Market, is a Mid Suffolk District Cllr for Needham Market and Badley. She said: “I’m concerned about the noise above Needham Market. When I was taking a petition around Needham Market one or two people were also concerned about the risk factor; they weren’t too happy about planes flying overhead, but I think the main concern is the noise that it would create.”

She added: “I think the majority would rather we didn’t have it, but they realise it still has to go somewhere. That is why we want to know why it can’t go over the North Sea.”

The noise from the stack would be more than the noise that Needham Market High Street currently experiences. The estimated noise from the stack is 70 decibels, which is equivalent to a car travelling at 40 miles per hour, 24 feet away. But if Stansted Airport does expand air traffic in the stack will increase and so will the noise.

The majority of residents in Needham Market are against the proposal going ahead. Ron Back, 69, of Needham Market, said: “I’m not in favour of the stacking proposals because I don’t feel it is right that it should be situated over a rural area. An urban area has quite a lot of noise from traffic and other sources whereas the countryside should be allowed to enjoy a relative degree of tranquillity. That is why people live there and move there to escape the noise.”

NATS refused to attend a Mid Suffolk environment policy panel on March, 25, 2008. They would only attend a meeting with Mid Suffolk District Council if it was a private consultation with two Conservative District Officers, two Green District Officers, two Labour District Officers, and one Clerk. But they did attend a public meeting with Needham Town Council on April, 16, 2008, to discuss the proposal.

ENDS