Southend Airport bosses have vowed to continue with their controversial expansion despite church officials voting against St Laurence and All Saints church being moved, it has been revealed.

Under the expansion scheme the 1,000-year-old church in Eastwoodbury Lane, Eastwood, would need to be shifted 110 metres to make way for new safety zones and extra passenger flights.

However, the future of the airport has been up in the air after the parochial church council vetoed St Laurence being moved.

Determined - Southend Airport chairman Andrew Walters has vowed to go ahead with the controversial expansion bid

But airport bosses have today announced that they are to press ahead with their plans and are in the process of preparing formal documents to submit to Southend Council in a bid to get planning permission.

Andrew Walters, chairman of Southend Airport, said that it was up to the council to make a "balanced decision" and to decide how to deal with the issue of the church that stands in the way.

However, Mr Walters said: "I urge members of the parochial church council, leaders of the church and community to sit down with us and understand the detailed issues here and to redouble their efforts to find a way forward that delivers a safe and convenient local airport for the long-term and for the benefit of local people at last."

Mr Walters spoke of his "positive vision" for the future of the airport.

He said: "This is not another false dawn for Southend Airport, but a real opportunity, a real chance to be grasped, a real inward investment that will bring jobs and economic prosperity for shopkeepers, families, young people, skilled and unskilled for generations to come."

Published Tuesday, June 4, 2002