TODAY I opened up my Lancing beach hut for a peaceful morning beside the waves, believing that the Tier 4 restrictions would have finally silenced the planes that have been flying incessantly out of Shoreham airport, destroying the natural tranquility of the place.

This was not to be as a plane came droning overhead, circling aimlessly like a huge buzzing mosquito.

Since the summer the airport has diverted nearly all their flights low over South Lancing, the noise sometimes incessant, disrupting the lives of hundreds of people who live beneath the flight path.

Peace, an especially valuable commodity in these stressful times, has been shredded.

When the pandemic arrived, people said it might make us focus on the important things in life, like nature and the environment.

Well, the airport operators weren’t listening, riding roughshod over the local community.

So may I suggest a New Year resolution to make a positive start locally, and shut Shoreham airport.

Planes spread the plague like wildfire around the globe and destroy the fragile ecology of the Earth.

Shut it down. Turn the lovely Art Deco building into a centre for sustainable transport.

Transform that wide expanse of open land into a nature park beneath the Downs.

Give the coming generation something to be proud of, and restore peace and tranquility to South Lancing.

Rob Silverstone

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