In this area, we already live alongside RAF Brize Norton and as such, we already have elements of noise and pollution.  The aerodrome is, as we all know, expanding dramatically with the absorption of RAF Lyneham which will be completed in September 2011. This will create heavily increased air traffic and an associated increase in road traffic moving troops and equipment around. Is it acceptable that this area has the disruption from this AND gravel quarries? Many of the routes that gravel lorries would use are also designated military traffic routes. Could our tiny roads handle this as well as the increasing local traffic?

The aerodrome is more than doubling its plane fleet from 29 to 72 aircraft, which will also multiply the regular training circuits.  These flights are at approximately 1,250 feet being below the height of 2,000 feet in which 90% of bird strikes occur according to the CAA.  There are also between 3 and 10 large civilian aircraft arriving and/or departing daily. 

The CAA is very concerned about flight safety from the expanding populations of large flocking birds (particularly swans, geese and gulls) and the increased risk of bird-strikes which, according to the CAA, is now 6 times greater than in 1990.  We in turn are concerned about the safety of the many villages in the area.  Gravel extraction here, together with the surrounding mixed agriculture, rivers and streams, would provide the ideal habitat with good roosting, nesting and feeding sites for large populations of flocking birds.

The process of gravel extraction and site reinstatement should aim to reduce the potential bird attraction of an area that falls within the ‘Aerodrome Safeguarded Area’.  This, as stated in the Town and Country Planning Directive 2002 and the CAA ‘Bird-strike Risk Management for Aerodromes’, is 13 km radius around the aerodrome and covers the whole of this area.  Gravel excavation could lead to large numbers of birds with flight paths crossing the ‘bird-strike management area’ of Brize Norton as they fly between this and other sites.

The Senior Air Traffic Control Officer at RAF Brize Norton says “RAF Brize Norton already has Stanton Harcourt landfill/Water Park to the east (8 miles), the Cotswold Water Park to the south west (8 miles).  This proposed new site will be to our south (3 miles).  If the Windrush River (to our north) is taken into account we would then be surrounded by water, all of which support a large population of gulls and water fowl”.

The letter from Defence Estates (10.8.2010) to Oxfordshire County Council regarding their ‘Minerals Strategy Options’ says:  “The negative issues on assessment are the large areas identified between Clanfield and Bampton …. due to their proximity to Brize Norton”.  Later they say “The main ‘showstopper’ relates to the large area … Clanfield/Bampton”.