Airport spends £90m buying 'runway houses'
30.09.09
BAA has spent £90m buying up properties around Stansted Airport in preparation for its plans for a second runway, the BBC reports. It has now bought all but six properties within the proposed boundary for the runwa, and homes threatened by noise blight are also being purchased, giving BAA ownership of about 270 properties.
So far BAA has spent £180m on its second runway proposal, with around half spent buying homes, commercial buildings, farms and land up to several miles from the airport. In the village of Takeley, close to Stansted, about 100 home owners within a 66 decibel noise zone have sold up to the airport.
One of the latest properties bought is the historic thatched Three Horseshoes pub at Molehill Green, where anti-expansion campaign group Stop Stansted Expansion protesters meet. Landlord Paul Holmes, who has a new 5 year lease with BAA, told the BBC: ‘I can sympathise with the people in Stop Stansted Expansion now there is a compulsory purchase order on them and the uncertainty of when it is going to happen. That is taken away if you sell to BAA.’
That runway development is currently on hold. A planning inquiry due to take place in the spring was postponed because BAA has been ordered to sell the airport by the Competition Commission. It is appealing this order, with a decision expect this year.
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