Its sad really, because both the Church and Airport are in a win-win situation. The Church gets refurbished, a new community centre, carpark and enlarged grave yard - free of charge, and the airport stays open and can expand its business.
If the Church stays put, then the airport closes. The airport gets sold off for industrial/housing developement. You can bet your bottom dollar that the farmland between the Airport & the A127/Tesco will be sold for development faster than Concorde. There will be no division between Southend and Rochford.
This now puts the Church in the centre of a huge development, with the attendant risk of vandalism and damage from a constant stream of HGVs. The people currently living between the airport and the farmland along Eastwoodbury Lane will be living in the middle of a building site for the next few years.
And of course, all the air traffic that currently uses Southend will have to move somewhere else too - so other airports will see more aircraft movements as the businesses relocate.