Lydd airport - saved by nukes?

Nuclear may be a thorny issue for environmentalists right now - what with the Government using nukes as a techno-fix solution to climate change - but opponents of one little airport in the South-East have found themselves in an unlikely partnership with their local nuke station.

Lydd airport is trying to expand from 5,000 passengers a year to 500,000 passengers, making it the poster boy for delusions of grandeur. It's even renamed itself London-Ashford airport, despite being nowhere near either. Unfortunately for the airport's owner, Dungeness nuclear power station is right next door.

British Energy, who own Dungeness and are eyeing up new-build contracts from the Government, have lodged an objection to the airport's expansion plans. They pointed out that 500,000 passengers at Lydd Airport would raise the risk of a commercial airliner accidentally crashing onto the Dungeness Nuclear Power Plant site to 14.5 times the acceptable risk guidelines imposed by the Nuclear Installations Inspectorate.

It's unlikely that the local council will be too chuffed with nuclear waste splattered all over Kent, so chances are the airport has been grounded. Stay tuned to the websites of the Lydd Airport Action Group or Keep the Marsh Special Alliance for more information.