UPSET AT PLANS TO TRAIN MILITARY PILOTS

Gwynedd airfield proposal unveiled but peace campaigners object:

PEACE campaigners have objected to proposals to re-start using an airfield in Snowdonia as a training facility for military pilots.

Snowdonia Aerospace has begun the process of establishing a new Air Traffic Zone (ATZ) for the former RAF airfield at Llanbedr near Harlech.

But re-establishing an ATZ will allow for a significant increase in air traffic at Llanbedr. Currently there are 100-200 civil flights a month but the application will increase flights to a further 100-200 a week with a maximum of 50 flights a day.

In its application to the Civil Aviation Authority, Snowdonia Aerospace said its objective is to provide protection for all traffic on the manoeuvering area at Llanbedr and all aircraft flying in the vicinity via a standard ATZ extending from the ground up to 2,000ft with a radius of 2.5 nautical miles.

It adds: “Consolidation of UK military training at RAF Valley has increased the need for supporting secondary/tertiary airfields to mitigate the potential aviation and programme schedule risks associated with the throughput of student pilots that might arise as a consequence of local air traffic congestion and/or poor weather.

“The combination of safety, operational, technical and environmental factors associated with mixing military air training with low volume aerospace activities at Llanbedr is consistent with historical operations and was further validated during a successful two-week detachment of Hawk T2s from Valley to Llanbedr during the Eisteddfod in August 2017.”

But the move has come under fire from Cymdeithas y Cymod, the Fellowship of Reconciliation in English, an international peace organisation, which has been campaigning against the use of the Llanbedr Airfield for military training for many years .

The group’s secretary, Awel Irene, said: “We are against this development because it further increases the militarisation of Wales.”

She added there are have been many complaints from Gwynedd and Mon about the unbearable noise level made by aircraft based at RAF Valley.

“Local communities are living with unacceptable levels of noise pollution in order to support British military interests and the sale of killing machines throughout the world.

“Cymdeithas y Cymod and other organisations have protested against the training of Saudi pilots at Valley and the sale of weapons to the Middle East knowing that Saudi pilots are constantly bombing Yemen and causing a humanitarian crisis,” she said.

Dr Gwyn Williams, of the Dwyryd and Glaslyn branch of Cymdeithas y Cymod, added: “The statement of need within this application states that this development is necessary ‘in the interest of the economic strategy of both the UK and the Welsh government’.

“God forbid that further development of destructive weapons is necessary. At a time when the world needs rebuilding, we need to be asking how efficient will the arms industry be to safeguard us from the real threats of global warming or the next pandemic.”

Opened in 1941 as part of RAF Fighter Command the airfield became RAE Llanbedr in 1957 and used for missile testing. It was closed in 1992 but reopened as Llanbedr Airfield by its current owners in 2014 for general aviation activities.

There were suggestions the airfield could be one of Britain’s Spaceports but that proposal has fallen through. A public consultation into Snowdonia Aerospace’s latest proposals is currently underway.