TODAY our Air Fair campaign looks at how the tranquillity of Suffolk has been shattered by the increasing air traffic in the skies above our heads.Time was when this county was quiet and the skies above were clear - but not any longer.

TODAY our Air Fair campaign looks at how the tranquillity of Suffolk has been shattered by the increasing air traffic in the skies above our heads.

Time was when this county was quiet and the skies above were clear - but not any longer.

And what is appalling is the fact that our peace has been shattered without any consultation. The first residents of this county knew that we had become the crossroads of the sky was when we noticed the trails of condensation across the skies, robbing us of our sunlight.

No one asked us how we felt about the silence of our summer afternoons being shattered by the gentle hum of jets at 8,000 feet.

And now as the number of flights using Stansted and other airports across southern England and the midlands increases, the threat is that the jets will start to come lower, increasing the noise.

Now the CAA is promising to consult people living underneath the flightpaths before they make any further changes - and it is a promise we will be watching like a hawk.

If it was not for us there would be no one holding the CAA and aviation industry to account. Unlike the planes above, our local councils have been deafening in their silence on the subject of increasing flights.

Of course the sight and sound of the aircraft is merely the symptom of increasing problems in the atmosphere that is caused by the aviation business.

It may be an industry that allows people to expand their horizons and visit other parts of Europe - but it cannot be allowed to increase without limits and without regard to the damage it is causing to our planet or the lives of the people who live below the flightpaths.

AFTER the dreadful events in and around Ipswich at the end of last year, people from all walks of life were determined that some good would come out of the tragedy.

Our Somebody's Daughter appeal is raising money to help those whose lives are being blighted by drugs and who are being forced into prostitution as a way of feeding their habit.

It has received a significant boost today with the news that Ipswich Town chairman David Sheepshanks has agreed to joincouncil leader Liz Harsant, leading clergyman Peter Townley and our editor as one of the trustees of the appeal,.

His presence will certainly help to boost its profile.

FOR many years hopes of restoring Broomhill swimming pool have been hanging by a thread. There were fears that this much-loved 1930s lido would never reopen.

Experts feared its condition was too bad for restoration. The stresses of being built on the side of a hill were too much to overcome.

But now the most comprehensive report into it has found that its condition is not as bad as was first feared, and the cost of full restoration should be just over half some of the more pessimistic estimates.

This gives real hope to the Broomhill Trust that the pool can be saved and be welcoming visitors again by the end of this decade.

With the prospect of warmer summers in the future that is indeed very good news for Ipswich.