THE fight to prevent a village from being subject to loud and invasive aircraft noise under new flightpath proposals has now carried to Westminster.

East Renfrewshire MP Paul Masterton has requested a meeting with the UK’s Transport

Secretary Chris Grayling in an

attempt to relay the concerns of the people of Uplawmoor.

The Tory politician has also met staff at Glasgow Airport and will meet the Civil Aviation Authority (CAA) to clarify the changes to the flightpath proposal process as a result of changes enforced on the airport by the authority.

A spokesman for Mr Masterton said: “Paul is now in the process of setting up a meeting between himself and the Secretary of State for Transport to discuss constituent concerns further and put forward his objection to the proposals.

“Although this stage of consultation has closed, the CAA has determined Glasgow Airports proposals must be judged against its new criteria, not its pre-existing one as originally thought.

“This new criteria places additional requirements regarding community consultation. It’s not yet clear what implications that will have on timescales, but Paul has met Glasgow Airport officials and will see the CAA in the next fortnight to obtain more clarity.”

Plans to take this case to Westminster come as the airport’s airspace consultation closed on Friday.

Activists from Uplawmoor who organised a mass survey and consultation response campaign have helped hand-deliver more than 400 responses from villagers last week, as well as some from frequent visitors to the village.

They say support, such as that from their MP, is key to keeping up the pressure.

Community campaigners are now also communicating directly with the CAA about some of their concerns around the procedure.

Rob Williams, chairman of Uplawmoor Community Council, said: “Paul’s support is greatly appreciated, particularly his efforts to ensure the concerns of our small village are heard within Westminster.

“Ultimately, the decision on whether to let Glasgow Airport continue with its plans will be made by the CAA and the Department for Transport, so it’s vital our voice carries to the UK

Parliament.”

However, bosses at Glasgow

Airport stressed the impact of the change in consultation guidelines will have on the proposal’s outcome is still unknown.

The airport will now be judged upon more stringent guidelines by the CAA, which will see direct community involvement in the decision-making process.

A spokesman for Glasgow Airport said: “In launching our airspace consultation we were following an endorsed and agreed airspace change process, as was explained in detail within our consultation document.

“The launch followed two years of planning and had received the necessary authorisation by the CAA under the airspace change process (CAP725).

“We have been informed by the CAA it has received clarification from the Department for Transport on the transitional arrangements relating to the new airspace change process.

“The result is a decision by the CAA to assess our proposals against the criteria of the new airspace change process known as CAP1616.

“We will continue our work with the CAA to ascertain what is required in order to satisfy the new process.”