Plane ban bid for Sunday chapel

http://news.bbc.co.uk/go/rss/-/1/hi/wales/mid/7155561.stm

Version 0 of 1.

Planners have urged an airport to ban flights for an hour on Sundays so a chapel service is not disturbed.

Ceredigion councillors otherwise backed a £5m redevelopment at West Wales Airport to include a new terminal, a 48-bedroom hotel and a control tower.

They want the airport to halt flights between 1030 and 1130 GMT on Sundays, while a service is held at nearby Blaenannerch Methodist chapel.

The managing director of the airport at Aberporth has been asked to comment.

The historic, Grade-II listed chapel was at the centre of a religious revival in 1904.

It stands next door to the airport, between Cardigan and Aberystwyth, and runs parallel with the runway.

There are concerns about the nearby Blaenannerch chapel. Councillor Lyndon Lloyd

Councillor Lyndon Lloyd, whose Beulah ward is near the airport. said councillors were strongly in favour of the project.

"But there are concerns about the nearby Blaenannerch chapel," added Mr Lloyd, who also sits on Ceredigion Council's planning committee.

"The planning committee has recommended that between 10.30 and 11.30 on Sunday mornings flying activity is stopped. That is part of the planning consent.

"We have also asked for screening around the cemetery which is also a condition."

Earlier this year the managing director of West Wales Airport, Ray Mann, said the number of planes landing and taking off would probably rise from the current level of 2,000 per year to 8,000 in the long-term.

Both passenger aircraft and private jets are expected to use the new airport.

Plans to extend the length of the runway from 915m (3,000ft) to 1,199m (3,932ft) were approved in 2003.