Originally Posted by
Lower the Nose!
Petitions are a notoriously ineffective means of putting across a case to the government. An online version all the more so: it will be easy to ignore, not least because plainly very little effort is involved on the part of those signing their names.
Very true. As well as signing up to the petition, write to your MP explaining the way the powers-that-be have ratted on their implicit promise
It is alleged in this case that the government had indicated that the inclusion of airfields from the draft wording of the bill was an oversight which would be corrected. If anyone can produce evidence that an undertaking was given it would make it that much harder for the government to wriggle out of this one. Anybody?
I had a letter from my MP about last year's effort and she enclosed a response from ODPM where it said that it was a drafting error and 'they would be considering reinstating the guidance (which they didn't). But, as you suggest, there was no undertaking - just an acknowledgement that the omission was an 'error'.
I replied at the time that this was no reassurance and have written back to her again asking her to get an explanation for the misleading reply she was given.