4:53pm Tuesday 18th March 2008
By Mariam Ghaemi
Plans for a second runway at Stansted Airport could pose the most serious airborne threat to historic buildings since the Luftwaffe, a group has claimed.
The Society for the Protection of Ancient Buildings (SPAB) vowed to fight the proposals following airport operator BAA's submission of a planning application last week.
Under the Generation 2 plans three listed buildings would be lost and ten would be dismantled and rebuilt, which is 16 less affected than outlined in the Government's 2003 white paper.
The society, which is the oldest building conservation body, said it was "extremely concerned" BAA proposed such a "large-scale destruction of our architectural heritage" for the sake of "narrow commercial interests at the tail-end of a cheap flights boom."
Under planning law, the group said, listed buildings could only be demolished if they were severely damaged or decayed and the ones which would be moved elsewhere would only reincorporate a proportion of the materials salvaged.
Douglas Kent, the society's technical secretary, said: "Old buildings aren't plane modelling kits and relocation won't save them. Moving a building inevitably causes huge damage to its materials, history and the link with its locality."
In last week's Dunmow Times the landord of a village pub which would be rebuilt under the plans spoke of how moving the business would be "hopeless."
Paul Holmes, 55, who runs the Three Horseshoes pub in the village of Molehill Green, near the airport, said: "We are business people and enjoy a very good living from the airport, but the second runway wipes us out."
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