GIVEN the alleged universal opposition to Stansted Airport expansion and the Elsenham eco-town I am surprised at the prominence given to the views of Steven Sartain. Could he possibly attract a wider following than many of us would care to acknowledge? I,

GIVEN the alleged universal opposition to Stansted Airport expansion and the Elsenham eco-town I am surprised at the prominence given to the views of Steven Sartain. Could he possibly attract a wider following than many of us would care to acknowledge? I, for one, wish he had shown the same degree of engagement as minister Caroline Flint.

You have been kind enough to print my opposition to this site; however, were I the minister I would find it difficult to take seriously the arguments of a district council opposed to the modern conception of an 'eco town' and yet in favour of a developer's idea of paradise on the same site; I suspect it would resemble the estate near Tesco in Dunmow.

It is of major importance the case put forward against the development of Elsenham does not appear to her as parochial, vested or politically orientated. The effect of excessive development in the East of England would be far reaching and in the long term an environmental and humanitarian disaster.

The rest of Europe is under the same pressure of population growth and loss of food-producing land.

Fortunately an enlarged airport is looking less financially viable by the week; to proceed in the present climate would be at best imprudent and in no way justify the devastation of a vast tract of countryside.

C Gilbey, Birdbush Avenue, Saffron Walden