Anger at new plans for flight paths
But airport bosses say they have‘rectified mistakes’
Campaign groups and politicians have attacked Edinburgh Airport’s plans for new flight paths after the airport published a report on their second consultation last week.
The airport admitted that they had made “some mistakes” in the consultation process and the report itself showed that of all feedback for flight paths affecting West Lothian, there were more negative responses than positive.
Following the release of the report Gordon Dewar, chief executive of Edinburgh Airport, said: “We acknowledge that some mistakes have been made and they have been embarrassing for us but we have learned from and rectified them.
“However, we are confident that they did not impair the overall completeness of the consultation. We have been open in identifying them and tenacious in our attempts to fix them.”
The findings of the report however ha s p rompted campaigners and politicians to tell Edinburgh Airport to go back to the drawing board with some calling for the idea of new flight paths to be scrapped altogether.
A spokesperson for campaign group Edinburgh Airport Watch said: “A staggering 52 per cent of responders rejected the proposals yet, astonishingly, the airport maintains it will press ahead with further changes to the airspace.
“This is simply not acceptable to communities who continue to dispute that these changes are necessary or justified.”
Fiona Hyslop, SNP MSP for Linlithgow, said: “The figures released by Edinburgh Airport showing more than half of all respondents registering negative feedback to Edinburgh Airport’s overall proposals is a clear sign that the airport must do more to engage with local communities and find solutions before taking any proposals to the Civil Aviation Authority.
“The two proposed routes C5 and D0 that affect the town of Winchburgh in my constituency are the most unpopular to West Lothian residents, with the D0 route being the most unpopular route overall.”
Neil Findlay, Labour MSP for Lothian, said: “This consultation shows again the depth of feeling against any new flight paths flying over communities in West Lothian.
“I have said all along that there is no need for new flight paths and how the aim of Edinburgh Airport and their owners has always been about fattening up the sale value of the airport no matter the environmental or health costs to people those people in West Lothian who will be impacted.”