Plane Stupid on the runway at Southend

3.11.11

16 pro­tes­tors, who occu­pied the run­way at Southend Air­port, have been arrest­ed by Essex Police.  It is believed they are being held at Southend Police Sta­tion. Cam­paign­ers from Plane Stu­pid and Cli­mate Rush entered the air­port short­ly after 9am this morn­ing.  The protest is against the planned expan­sion of Southend Air­port.

3.11.11

16 pro­tes­tors, who occu­pied the run­way at Southend Air­port, have been arrest­ed by Essex Police.  It is believed they are being held at Southend Police Sta­tion. Cam­paign­ers from Plane Stu­pid and Cli­mate Rush entered the air­port short­ly after 9am this morn­ing.  The protest is against the planned expan­sion of Southend Air­port.

Plane Stu­pid installed solar pan­els on the run­way.  Cam­paign­ers from Cli­mate Rush, dressed as pilots and cab­in crew, were on a near­by foot­path per­form­ing a dance rou­tine.

A spokes­woman for the pro­tes­tors said:

“Southend Coun­cil say the expan­sion will bring jobs.  But invest­ment in renew­able ener­gy would cre­ate many more jobs with­out dam­ag­ing the cli­mate.  What we need is solar pow­er not plane pow­er.  The big­ger run­way is bad for cli­mate change, bad for local res­i­dents under the flight path and is not need­ed to help the local econ­o­my.” 

Southend Air­port has been bought by Sto­barts, the logis­tics firm.  Easy­jet has announced that it plans to start oper­at­ing com­mer­cial flights from the air­port in spring 2012.

There has been a major local cam­paign.  It has focused on the impact the air­port would have on the thou­sands of peo­ple who will live under the flight paths.