Airport again under fire as consultation comes to an end

Edinburgh Airport has again come under fire over its flight path consultation.

Kirkcaldy and Cowdenbeath MP Lesley Laird said she has written to Civil Aviation Authority chief executive Richard Moriarty, asking him urgently intervene to “return some credibility” to the airport’s E7a flight path proposal.

Mrs Laird said she was “fundamentally concerned that the airport was not listening to communities”.

She added: “Several areas have not received notification of the consultation, commitments from the airport to ensure documentation would be put into libraries have been patchy and their website continued to show the consultation closing on June 21 rather than the June 28, the date we successfully lobbied for, up until last Thursday and after repeated calls from my office to update this.”

Green MSP for Mid Scotland and Fife Mark Ruskell said he had been “flooded with concerns” from residents in Dalgety Bay, North Queensferry and Inverkeithing about the proposed route.

“More than half of the local population gave a clear no to these plans at the last stage, and people are feeling tired and worn down by having to repeat this again,” he said.

“I’ve now heard the airport have shown further contempt to communities by not even consulting their own Noise Advisory Board ahead of publishing this latest consultation.”

Edinburgh Airport maintains it did consult the board.

An airport spokesman said: “They had advance notice of the consultation and were given a presentation on our proposals. We believe our consultation to be sound, clear and we are getting a great response.”