TWO Suffolk MPs have set up a meeting with a government minister to try to persuade him to intervene and change proposals for a new holding stack for Stansted.

TWO Suffolk MPs have set up a meeting with a government minister to try to persuade him to intervene and change proposals for a new holding stack for Stansted.

David Ruffley and Tim Yeo will meet the air minister Jim Fitzpatrick on October 27 to lobby for a better deal for residents living in the peaceful countryside south and west of Stowmarket.

More than 25 villages between Stowmarket and Hadleigh fear they will have to put up with a noisy jet every two minutes if the changes to airspace go ahead, ruining the area's tranquillity.

“I will be making it very clear to the minister that the present proposals will have a devastating effect on my constituents who live in villages under the proposed Stansted Eastern Hold,” said Mr Ruffley.

“NATS are trying to justify the new holding areas by saying fewer people across the region will be affected by aircraft noise.

“This may be true but the major issue of concern, for both me and my constituents, is that these new holds are over predominantly rural areas.

“Of course the new holds will affect fewer people - they are over far less densely populated areas.

“This does not mean the impact will be any less.

“In fact, I would argue that as the level of ambient noise in these villages is much lower, the aircraft noise overhead will be all the more noticeable.

“I will be asking Jim Fitzpatrick to intervene and put a stop to the currently proposed Stansted Eastern Hold before it is too late.”

Save Our Silence Action Group, which has called for air traffic management company NATS to place the holding area over the North Sea, is hoping the MPs will be able to force changes to the proposals.

A spokeswoman for SOSAG said: “Our hope is based on the fact that the consultation showed that 86 per cent of individuals and 76pc of representative organisations objected to the proposals and that surely such an overwhelming negative response cannot be ignored.

“Our despair is because NATS appears to be ignoring the objections and preparing to only tinker around the edges of the proposals. Also, NATS has not addressed many of the issues we raised in our original submission.”

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