Tallinnman
Dont want to personalise the issue and yes, in your case, I can sympathise. In 1966 the propspect of BHD growing to its current size was probably unimaginable. However there has been an explosion of new builds in the Sydenham area in recent years and I have no more sympathy for these people than I would for someone who buys a house beside a railway line and in then annoyed by the noise of trains.
The fact remains that BHD and BFS are private business (and not public services as some people think) and to limit growth at one and favour the other is no different than stopping Tesco building a store because there is a perfectly good sainsburys down the road. perhaps a more relevant comparision may be limiting growth of Belfast port because Larne has spare capacity.
maybe I picked it up wrong but 'noxious footprint' implies pollution (other than noise). It has repeatedly been shown, most recently in runway EIA that the air pollution from the airport is negligible and certainly less than the traffic on the closer Sydenham bypass.
the fact remains that BHD is one of, if not, the most strictly regulated airports in Europe. That protection limits the total number of flights and opening hours. few people living near an airport know that they wont be wakened before 6:30 - and certainly not those near the aforementioned towns who hear cargo and charter flights through the night.
Your final coment about baggage limits is frankly ridiculous. Yes, I have seen people putting on clothes to reduce baggage weight. But this now happens with all airlines and to suggest that its particular to BHD and Ryanair is nonsense. And to be blunt if people have the capabilty to own a credit card and 'negotiate' Ryanairs website then they should be also be able to weight their bags on their bathroom scales before they leave home.