Contents
SASIG 2014/15 Meeting Date
Regional News
Industry News
European News
Parliamentary News
Government News
House of Commons Questions
House of Lords Questions
SASIG 2014/15 Meeting Date
6 March 2015
Meetings are held at Local Government House, Smith Square, SW1P 3HZ, location map.
Regional News
9 February 2015 – Manchester Airport station has reopened after work to install track and signalling as part of the new fourth platform was completed. Network Rail completed the upgrade is the latest stage of improvements to be completed as part of a £1bn+ investment in the railway in the north of England.
9 February 2015 – Work is underway on a new bridge as part of the Finningley and Rossington Regeneration Route Scheme (FARRRS) link road. The road which will provide a new route from junction 3 of the M18 motorway to Robin Hood Airport Doncaster Sheffield with links into Rossington village and the iPort development.
10 February 2015 – Luton Airport have announced a commercial tender programme, covering 47 units and 7,027sq m of retail space.
10 February 2015 – The UK Vice President of the airline operator Emirates Laurie Berryman, has said the airline had seen ‘huge growth’ as a result of the growing economy in the Manchester area.
Industry News
10 February 2015 – As part of its response to the Government’s General Aviation (GA) Red Tape Challenge, and its ongoing work to ensure regulation of GA is more proportionate, the UK Civil Aviation Authority (CAA) has relaxed the need for GA aircraft to carry certain equipment when flying under Instrument Flight Rules (IFR). The change means that aircraft flying on IFR private flights do not necessarily need to comply with the equipment levels laid out in schedule 5 of the Air Navigation Order. This means that instruments such as VOR, DME or ADF are no longer required just because an aircraft is flying IFR in controlled airspace. However, they must be carried when the route or airfields to be used demand them. It # answers a Red Tape challenge that the CAA should: ‘align national navigational equipage carriage requirements (Schedule 5 of the Air Navigation Order) for GA operators with those of the European Aviation Safety Agency’s Part-NCO as soon as possible, limiting any ‘airspace requirements’ to performance based navigation specifications’. The change doesn’t affect requirements to have a radio and transponder in certain airspace or any other stipulations such as performance based navigation requirements.
11 February 2015 – The Spanish majority owner of Luton Airport – Aena – is to float on the Madrid stock exchange in the country’s second largest flotation. Aena, which also operates Madrid and Barcelona airports, is to be valued at €8.7bn when trading starts. The Spanish government is selling 49 per cent of its stake in Aena. Shares are due to make their debut at €58, about 40 per cent higher than the original indicative price for the initial public offering.
11 February 2015 – Northern Ireland Secretary Theresa Villiers has said it is vital that any new owner of the airline operator Aer Lingus retains Heathrow Airport slots for Belfast and Dublin. IAG has put forward a €1.36bn takeover offer for Aer Lingus. Talks are ongoing and involve the Irish Government, which controls a 25 per cent stake in Aer Lingus. Ms Villiers said she would try and encourage any new owner to maintain the slots.
12 February 2015 – Global airport passenger traffic rose by 5 per cent year-on-year in 2014, Airports Council International (ACI) has reported. International traffic outstripped the average with a 6 per cent increase, with domestic traffic worldwide growing at 4.5 per cent compared to 2013. ACI noted, ‘On the whole, passenger traffic remained resilient in the face of the global uncertainties that beleaguered many economies in 2013 and 2014. International tourism, in particular, was irrepressible in 2014 considering the geopolitical risks that have persisted in certain parts of the world such as Eastern Europe and the Middle East. The Ebola outbreak also presented significant challenges to the aviation sector. By and large, the international traveller in 2014 appears to have been immune to these potential dangers’.
12 February 2015 – The Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) have said they welcome a judgment by the Court Of Appeal dismissing a challenge by the airline operator Ryanair’s against an earlier decision made by the Competition Appeal Tribunal (CAT) in March 2014. The CAT had upheld the decision, originally made by the Competition Commission in August 2013, to require Ryanair to sell its 29.8 per cent stake in Aer Lingus Group plc down to 5 per cent. The Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) consulted on the making of a final order in this case in November 2013, pending the outcome of the litigation in the Court of Appeal. The CMA group of members which has been carrying out this inquiry will now decide how to proceed in the light of the judgment.
13 February 2015 – The Education Secretary Nicky Morgan has told the ‘UKinbound Convention’ in Leicester, ‘APD (Air Passenger Duty) raises money. As education secretary I like having money to spend on schools’. Chairman of ‘Ukinbound’ Mr Mark McVay asked Ms Morgan whether the UK was at a competitive disadvantage in implementing the tax and suggested that it was ‘about time we abolished this tax’. But Ms. Morgan responded by saying that, ‘There are people who model this all the time and we have yet to see a compelling overall case’ [for abolishing APD].
European News
9 February 2015 – Eurocontrol have published part 2 of their report on the impact of airports in the national economy. The report addresses the potential losses to jobs and GDP if, it is argued, that Europe’s airport capacity is not increased in line with demand.
Parliamentary News
10 February 2015 – Early day motion 788: ‘Air Passenger Duty’, was put down on 10 February 2015 by Kate Hoey (Vauxhall, Labour). That this House acknowledges that UK levels of air passenger duty (APD) continue to be the highest in the world, and represent a growing barrier to trade, investment and tourism; notes the recommendation from the Smith Commission that responsibility for APD should be devolved to Scotland; further notes that the Scottish Government has consistently stated its ambition to reduce APD by 50 per cent in the short-term, to be followed by eventual abolition; and believes that were APD to be cut in Scotland then all parts of the UK, as soon as possible, should receive the exact same reduction, so that no areas of the country are disadvantaged in any way. This EDM has been signed by 11 MPs.
10 February 2015 – Members of Parliament debated Transport in the Tees Valley – with the Government stating that it was sympathetic to calls for Middlesbrough to gain representation on the Board of Transport for the North. A summary of the debate is given below, with the full transcript available here.
Responding to a debate on transport in Tees Valley, Conservative Transport Minister John Hayes acknowledged the role of effective transport in stimulating growth across the country, balancing the economy and permitting access to services. The Government had ‘determined to reverse the effect of some of the neglect in respect of infrastructural development that has characterised previous regimes’, he explained. He pointed to the road investment programme, which he noted would secure £15bn worth of new road improvements to 2021, benefiting both the north and south, and including major new schemes for the A19. These works would complement the ‘pinch point’ schemes already implemented in the area by the Highways Agency, and would make journey times more reliable, with reductions in congestion and pollution, he argued. He linked the plans that had been made to the results of six feasibility studies that had been carried out. Confronted about demands for a new Tees crossing, he argued that this issue would be more suited to its own debate at a later juncture.
On rail issues, Mr Hayes said that he agreed on the need for improvements to Middlesbrough Station, and pledged to ‘pursue’ Network Rail on this score, including over whether the roof could be renovated. He also said that he could not see why not further improvements suggested by local MPs should not be considered following the completion of works on the East Coast Main Line, including a potential upgrade to rolling stock. ‘Such matters need to be considered in the round’, but people needed trains that were fit for purpose, he commented. The minister agreed with suggestions that the town ought to be represented on the Board of Transport for the North, and said that as he understood matters, the Transport Secretary would be sympathetic to this proposal. He expressed sympathy with concerns about bus availability, noting that he believed it was particularly important for the sick and vulnerable to be able to access services.
Mr Hayes declined to comment on the question of Air Passenger Duty. He also pledged to write with further details of issues not addressed. Opening the debate, Labour MP Andy MacDonald outlined the need to rebalance the UK’s economy so that the region would no longer be neglected by policymakers. He demanded to know why recent plans for new northern developments were considered ‘the sole prevail of the self-named core cites’. He highlighted the plight of Middlesbrough as the largest UK conurbation without a direct rail link to London, and lamented the absence of motorways from the Tees Valley area, despite its significant economic contributions, and its potential for energy intensive industries. ‘Tees Valley is in the right place at the right time to become the industrial carbon capture storage leader in Europe’, he noted.
He called for representation for Tees Valley on the Board of Transport for the North, and expressed disappointment that a promised new Middlesbrough to London rail service run by Virgin East Coast would not be implemented sooner. He also suggested that the town’s station needed an upgrade, and called for rail electrification and the replacement of locally-used Pacer rolling stock. Mr MacDonald argued that bus provision was completely inadequate for locals’ needs, meaning that jobseekers struggled to find transport to work opportunities and patients found it hard to get to hospital. Combined authorities needed to be allowed to reregulate these services, he argued. Finally, he also called for an additional Tees crossing.
Government News
11 February 2015 – The Department for Transport have published a speech delivered by the Transport Minister Baroness Kramer on 13 January 2015, where she talks about ‘connectivity and integration’ being ‘at the core of the Department for Transport’s work’. A full transcript of the speech is given below.
‘Good afternoon everyone. It’s a pleasure to be here. And thanks to the All Party Group for inviting me to say a few words today, after which we can open up the discussion and I’ll do my best to answer your questions.
We are now less than 4 months away from the general election. And the newspaper opinion writers are sharpening their pencils as they prepare to cast judgement on 5 years of Coalition government.
But what will they say about transport? Well, first I hope they’ll acknowledge that transport has a much higher political profile today than it’s had in the past. The Coalition’s overwhelming priority has always been to build a strong and stable economy. And from the start we identified transport as a major catalyst for growth, providing the arteries that connect business with markets, and people with jobs.
So the DfT became a core economic department within the Coalition, which has helped us play an instrumental role in the country’s recovery. That’s been reflected in the amount of funding we’re channelling into transport: £70 billion of capital investment over the next Parliament; £38 billion to maintain and improve our railway up between 2014 and 2019; and a £15 billion commitment to triple roads spending in England by the end of the decade.
But it’s not just the amount of investment that’s changed. It’s how that funding is delivered too. In the past, transport planning has been too piecemeal. Too fragmented.
So instead, we’re trying to think about transport in a more joined-up way, that reflects how people actually travel. Which is really what integrated transport is all about.
It’s just as relevant on big projects as it is on local schemes. That’s why – for example – we asked HS2 Chairman Sir David Higgins to look at bringing the benefits of high speed rail to the north more quickly. Connecting the great northern cities through faster east-west links to create a Northern Powerhouse. And now that route has been mapped out. But he can’t develop this line in isolation.
So as part of the so called ‘HS2 plus’ programme, he’s working with the Highways Agency, Network Rail, local authorities and business leaders to produce a plan for high speed rail that’s fully integrated plan with the wider transport system. Connectivity and integration are key considerations of other schemes like Crossrail, surface access to airports, rail electrification, and station redevelopments like Reading and Birmingham New Street.
The reforms we’re making to the Highways Agency are also designed to encourage cooperation and more integrated transport planning. Long term funding will allow the agency to plan ahead with greater certainty as it delivers the UK’s biggest ever road upgrade programme.
We’re also encouraging greater integration at local levels. The Growth Deals under the single pot reforms give authorities the power and money to implement their own integrated transport programmes. One example is in the Solent, where local transport infrastructure will link with a new junction on the M27 to support new housing developments and connect people with jobs. Devolution opens up new opportunities for councils, Local Enterprise Partnerships, transport operators and passengers to work alongside each other. It’s really just common sense. By involving different partners, final transport plans will reflect the interests of everyone who uses our roads. And reflect the way people actually travel.
The DfT’s ‘door to door’ strategy is also encouraging people to think about transport in a more integrated way. Giving them greater choice about their journeys, and making it easier to pick greener and healthier forms of transport. We’re supporting this initiative with record investment in cycling, including our eight cycling cities. And we’ve provided extra funding for the Local Sustainable Transport Fund, encouraging councils to link up with LEPs and integrate bids.
I’ve spent a lot of time travelling around the country seeing the benefits of a more joined-up approach – such as improved bike facilities at rail stations, better local travel information for passengers, and smart ticketing, so people don’t have to buy separate tickets for travel on buses, rail, or trams. So while I don’t underestimate the challenges ahead, there is fantastic work going on. And we’ve made big strides over the past 5 years. Now we have to build on that foundation – and help deliver a more seamless, co-ordinated and integrated transport system for Britain. Thank you’.
12 February 2015 – The UK welcomed a record number of international tourists in 2014 who spent £21.7bn which Tourism Minister Helen Grant said showed that the government’s ‘tourism strategy is working’. According to the Office of National Statistics, overseas visitors made 34.8 million trips to the UK last year, an increase of 6 per cent on the 2013 total with spend up 3 per cent. Of these visits, 3.69 million were North American visitors and 25.83 million were Europeans – a rise of 4 per cent and 7 per cent respectively.
House of Commons Questions
Smith, H – Growth deal at Gatwick Airport
10 February 2015
Henry Smith (Crawley, Conservative):A recent growth deal saw tens of millions of pounds being invested in the future of Gatwick airport station. May I seek assurances from my right hon. Friend that further growth deals will focus on improving transport infrastructure for the area?
Stephen Doughty (Cardiff South and Penarth, Labour):According to the latest figures, a staggering 23,500 voters appear to be missing from the electoral registration lists in Cardiff. We have already heard how the scandal is affecting young people and students, but it also appears that a significant number of people in the black and minority ethnic community across the city are missing from the register. What is the Deputy Prime Minister going to do about this?
Nick Clegg (Deputy Prime Minister, Sheffield Hallam, Liberal Democrat):Nobody will have their right to vote taken away from them as we move to individual voter registration. What I find so fascinating as I listen to all this heat and fury from the Opposition is that when they were in government they supported the move to individual voter registration, and for good reasons. The previous system was patronising and out of date; it rested on the idea that the head of a household would register everyone in that household on to the electoral register. Do the Opposition now want to revert to that system? It was patronising, out of date and unfair to many voters.
Burt, A – Closure of the Border Inspection Post at Heathrow Airport
10 February 2015
Alistair Burt (North East Bedfordshire, Conservative): To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what discussions she has had with Norbert Dentressangle on the closure of the Border Inspection Post at Heathrow Airport.
George Eustice (Parliamentary Under Secretary of State for Farming, Food and Marine Environment, Camborne and Redruth, Conservative): Border Inspection Posts (BIPs) that handle imported product of animal origin at UK ports and airports are provided by commercial operators. The BIP at Heathrow Airport is comprised of three separately managed inspection centres including one that handles imports of live animals. Norbert Dentressangle operates one of two inspection centres that are approved to handle different types of product of animal origin. Defra has received representations from and on behalf of businesses that currently rely on the inspection centre currently operated by Norbert Dentressangle. Officials have responded informally to understand better these concerns. I understand that the operator of the second animal product inspection centre at Heathrow has expressed an interest in providing alternative inspection facilities. Their facility will require some structural and other changes and these will need to be checked by the Animal and Plant Health Agency. Any fundamental change to the existing facility will also need to be approved by the Food and Veterinary Office of the European Commission. This could require an inspection of any new facilities. I also understand that the parties involved are also exploring contingency measures that could operate whilst any planning and building work is carried out. The aim is to ensure that there is a continuous Border Inspection capability for all types of product of animal origin at Heathrow. I appreciate the importance that the bio-pharmaceutical industry and other importers attach to the maintenance of inspection facilities for animal product at Heathrow Airport. I welcome the discussions that are currently taking place between various interested parties. Defra will continue to follow developments closely and officials will provide any advice needed to assist the possible development the other animal product inspection centre at Heathrow Airport.
Burt, A – Feasibility of keeping open the Border Inspection Post at Heathrow Airport.
10 February 2015
Alistair Burt: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, whether her Department has assessed the feasibility of options to ensure the Border Inspection Post at Heathrow Airport remains open.
George Eustice: Border Inspection Posts (BIPs) that handle imported product of animal origin at UK ports and airports are provided by commercial operators. The BIP at Heathrow Airport is comprised of three separately managed inspection centres including one that handles imports of live animals. Norbert Dentressangle operates one of two inspection centres that are approved to handle different types of product of animal origin. Defra has received representations from and on behalf of businesses that currently rely on the inspection centre currently operated by Norbert Dentressangle. Officials have responded informally to understand better these concerns. I understand that the operator of the second animal product inspection centre at Heathrow has expressed an interest in providing alternative inspection facilities. Their facility will require some structural and other changes and these will need to be checked by the Animal and Plant Health Agency. Any fundamental change to the existing facility will also need to be approved by the Food and Veterinary Office of the European Commission. This could require an inspection of any new facilities. I also understand that the parties involved are also exploring contingency measures that could operate whilst any planning and building work is carried out. The aim is to ensure that there is a continuous Border Inspection capability for all types of product of animal origin at Heathrow. I appreciate the importance that the bio-pharmaceutical industry and other importers attach to the maintenance of inspection facilities for animal product at Heathrow Airport. I welcome the discussions that are currently taking place between various interested parties. Defra will continue to follow developments closely and officials will provide any advice needed to assist the possible development the other animal product inspection centre at Heathrow Airport.
10 February 2015
Alistair Burt: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what assessment she has made of the effect of the closure of the Border Inspection Post at Heathrow Airport on the bio-pharmaceutical industry.
George Eustice: Border Inspection Posts (BIPs) that handle imported product of animal origin at UK ports and airports are provided by commercial operators. The BIP at Heathrow Airport is comprised of three separately managed inspection centres including one that handles imports of live animals. Norbert Dentressangle operates one of two inspection centres that are approved to handle different types of product of animal origin.
Defra has received representations from and on behalf of businesses that currently rely on the inspection centre currently operated by Norbert Dentressangle. Officials have responded informally to understand better these concerns. I understand that the operator of the second animal product inspection centre at Heathrow has expressed an interest in providing alternative inspection facilities. Their facility will require some structural and other changes and these will need to be checked by the Animal and Plant Health Agency. Any fundamental change to the existing facility will also need to be approved by the Food and Veterinary Office of the European Commission. This could require an inspection of any new facilities. I also understand that the parties involved are also exploring contingency measures that could operate whilst any planning and building work is carried out. The aim is to ensure that there is a continuous Border Inspection capability for all types of product of animal origin at Heathrow. I appreciate the importance that the bio-pharmaceutical industry and other importers attach to the maintenance of inspection facilities for animal product at Heathrow Airport. I welcome the discussions that are currently taking place between various interested parties. Defra will continue to follow developments closely and officials will provide any advice needed to assist the possible development the other animal product inspection centre at Heathrow Airport.
House of Lords Questions
Lord Eames – Electronic body scanners at UK airports
3 February 2015
Lord Eames (Crossbench peer): To ask Her Majesty’s Government whether they have plans to place electronic body scanners at all airports of the United Kingdom.
Baroness Kramer (Minister of State for Transport, Liberal Democrat peer) : The further deployment of security scanners was advised in the ministerial statement of 21 November 2013. Work is underway with those airports which already deploy security scanners to consider the case for increasing their deployment of security scanners. The Department for Transport keeps all aviation security measures under continual review to ensure that the measures are sustainable, proportionate and practicable and any wider deployment of security scanners would be considered on a risk assessed basis. UK airports comply with EU and UK regulations for the screening of passengers and there are a number of screening methods and equipment options in use.
Lord Eames – Number of electronic body scanners at UK airports
10 February 2015
Lord Eames: To ask Her Majesty’s Government how many electronic body scanners have been placed at airports of the United Kingdom and at what cost.
Baroness Kramer: On 1 February 2015 security scanners were in place at 17 airports with a further 2 airports expected to deploy security scanners in the coming months. The cost of security scanners falls to the airports. The Department for Transport does not hold information on the cost.
Lord Eames – Preservation of air links from Northern Ireland to the rest of the UK
10 February 2015
Lord Eames: To ask Her Majesty’s Government, in the light of the possible sale of Aer Lingus, what plans they have to protect and maintain regular and frequent air links between Northern Ireland and the rest of the United Kingdom.
Baroness Kramer: Airlines, as the airports they serve, operate in a competitive market. Northern Ireland is well-connected by air to London with over 17,000 flights per year between the two Belfast airports and Derry Airport and the five main London airports, carrying over two million passengers. The airports also maintain good connections with other UK airports – Belfast International Airport has connections to eleven domestic destinations, Belfast City Airport to nineteen and Derry airport to three.
SASIG RegionalIndustryNews Bulletin 9 February – 15 February
SASIG ParliamentaryNews Bulletin 9 February – 15 February
The Parliamentary information in this Bulletin is sourced from De Havilland Information Services plc .