Latest Aviation Policy News
House of Commons Transport Select Committee: EU Flight time limitations – Follow up
House of Commons Transport Select Committee: Flight time limitations – Follow up
In July 2013, Member States of the European Union voted in support of a draft proposal on flight time limitations by the European Commission. This triggered a three-month scrutiny of the new draft regulation. As part of the process for UK parliamentary scrutiny of the EU proposals, the European Scrutiny Committee referred the draft regulation to the House of Commons Transport Select Committee for opinion.
This report is a presentation of their scrutiny. In the report the Committee state that the Commission’s draft regulation represents an improvement on the EASA proposal, but have expressed concerns over several areas, including operator responsibilities, the limit for flight duty periods at night, the effective use of scientific evidence in rule-making and the arrangements for oversight and active management of the new regime.
The Committee recommends that the European Scrutiny Committee request that the European Commission address the matters they have raised in this report, including ensuring effective monitoring of the new flight time regulation. They also recommend that the European Scrutiny Committee requests the European Commission provide an assessment of the regulation two years after its implementation.
Independent Armitt Review of Infrastructure
The Armitt Review Final Report
In October 2012 the Labour Party commissioned Sir John Armitt, the former Chairman of the Olympic Delivery Authority, to undertake an independent Review of long term infrastructure planning in the UK, looking at: whether a new institutional structure can be established that better enables the long term decision making necessary for strategic infrastructure planning; and how political consensus can be forged around these decisions.
Following a call for evidence, followed by a period of detailed consultation with a range of individuals and organisations experienced in the promotion, funding and delivery of UK infrastructure, Sir John has published his final report.
In the report, Sir John calls for the establishment of an independent National Infrastructure Commission to identify the UK’s long-term infrastructure needs and monitor the plans developed by governments to meet them. The Commission would consider how the UK’s future needs could be met in a targeted and efficient manner with value for money being a primary consideration.
The report argues a new approach is needed to prepare the country for the major challenges ahead, such as population growth and climate change. The comprehensive review examined the difficulties faced by successive governments in making long-term decisions to meet these challenges under the current system.
The Armitt Review makes the following core recommendations aimed at achieving cross-party political consensus, public support and investor certainty for long-term decisions on the UK’s energy, transport, water, waste, flood defences and telecommunications needs:
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A new independent National Infrastructure Commission to look 25-30 years ahead at the evidence for the UK’s future needs across all significant national infrastructure and set clear priorities, for example, nationwide flood prevention or energy supply.
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This National Infrastructure Assessment would be carried out every 10 years and include extensive research and consultations with the public, local government, NGOs, regulators and other interested groups or individuals.
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A Parliamentary vote on the evidence-based infrastructure priorities would have to take place within six months of their publication, to avoid delays.
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Within 12 months of this vote Government Departments would have to form detailed 10 year Sector Plans of how they will deliver and fund work towards these priorities.
- Parliament would then vote on these 10 year plans and the permanent National Infrastructure Commission would scrutinise the ability of these plans to meet the 25-30 year national priorities and report to Parliament annually on their delivery.
Department for the Environment, Food and Rural Affairs: Call for Evidence – Review of the Clean Air Act 1993
The Department for the Environment, Food and Rural Affairs are currently undertaking a policy review of the Clean Air Act 1993 in England, and are calling for evidence to support the review. The purpose is to seek views on the evidence base and for submitters to provide additional evidence based on experience and knowledge of the Clean Air Act 1993. Comments and ideas for improving the act and meeting the policy objectives described below, are welcomed.
Submissions are invited from the public, local authorities and businesses affected by the Clean Air Act such as boiler manufacturers, developers and the food industry.
The Clean Air Acts are now almost sixty years old and have around forty associated regulations and are being reviewed as part of the government’s Red Tape Challenge. There are three main objectives of the review:
- Reducing burdens on business and local authorities
- Making environmental rules and regulations more user friendly
- Maintaining the quality of environmental regulations
The consultation runs from 3 Sep 2013 to 29 Oct 2013.
More details of the consultation can be found here: https://consult.defra.gov.uk/atmosphere-local-environment-team/clean-air-act-review
SASIG Bulletins for August are now available
The latest SASIG bulletin is available here.
Access to these articles will require membership login.
Phase 2 information note: discussing the second phase of the Airports Commission’s work
Phase 2 information note: discussing the second phase of the Airports Commission’s work
This information note provides details on the processes and timings that may be established in phase 2 of the Airports Commission’s work programme, should our interim report conclude that a significant increase in aviation capacity is needed.
The purpose of the note is to inform all interested parties of the likely time frames for any work that may need to be undertaken in phase 2.
Long term options: proposals received by the Airports Commission
The Airports Commission have today published a list of the organisations that have submitted long term option proposals to the Airports Commission.
This list is available as an Excel spreadsheet here, Long-term option submissions to the Airports Commission (where an organisation has already published its proposals a link to the documentation is provided in the spreadsheet. Where an organisation has not published its proposals it has been published on their behalf).
The Commission has also published a cover note with the data available here, Long-term options cover note.
All of the proposals are available as a .zip file from a page on the Commission’s website here, or individually in the post below.
The Airports Commission will assess the proposals against its previously published sift criteria and it will publish its views in its interim report at the end of 2013.
Stakeholders who wish to comment on the published proposals should send their responses to [email protected] by 27 September 2013.
Proposals for Long term options for additional UK airport capacity
The following reports are all of the 52 submissions to the Airports Commision as proposals for Long term options for additional UK airport capacity. Each option below is followed in brackets by the submitter.
Birmingham Airport (Birmingham Airport)
Cardiff Airport (Western Gateway Group)
Cliffe (London Medway Airport)
Dispersed London Hub (Imperial College)
Dispersed London Hub (Kent County Council)
Drive Through Airport, DTA (Büro für MEHR)
Fairoaks Airport (Fairoaks Airport)
Gatwick & Lydd Airport (Private Individual)
Gatwick Airport (Gatwick Airport)
Goodwin Airport, Goodwin Sands (Becket Rankine Architects)
Heathrow & Stansted Airport (Private Individual)
Heathrow Airport (Heathrow Airport Ltd.) Additional information about the Heathrow Airport Ltd. submission can be found here.
Heathrow Airport (Aras Global)
Heathrow Airport (Centre for Policy Studies)
Heathrow Airport (Policy Exchange)
Heathrow Airport (Private Individual)
Heathrow Airport (Private Individual2)
Hub airports (Private Indivdual)
Hub City London (Grimshaw Architects)
Isle of Grain (Transport for London)
London Britannia Airport, Outer Thames Estuary (TESTRAD Consortium)
‘London East’ (Private individual)
London Gateway Airport Cliffe (International Aviation Advisory Group)
Luton Airport (Weston Williamson and Partners)
Manston Airport (Infratil Airports Europe)
Maplin Sands (Private individual)
Outer Thames Estuary (Transport for London)
Oxfordshire (Pleiade Associates)
RAF Croughton& Steventon (Progressive Aviation Group)
Severn Estuary (MSP Solutions)
Severn Estuary (Private Individual)
Stansted Airport (Avery Associates)
Stansted Airport (First Class Partnership)
Stansted Airport (Manchester Airports Group)
Stansted Airport (MSP Solutions)
Stansted Airport (Transport for London)
Surface access (Interlinking Transit Solutions)
Stansted Airport (MAKE Architects)
Surface access (Private Individual)
Surface access (Private Indivdual 2)
Surface access (Quaestus Poppleton)
Surface access (Greengauge 21)
Surface access Universal Hub (Private Individual)
Thames Hub Airport (Foster Partners)
Various options (Richmond Heathrow Campaign)
Walland Marsh (Private Individual)
Summary of proposals for making best use of existing airport capacity in the short and medium term
Summary of proposals for making best use of existing airport capacity in the short and medium term
This publication summarises the proposals received by the Airports Commission from stakeholders for making best use of existing airport capacity in the United Kingdom in the short and medium term. The publication also lists organisations that submitted proposals. The Airports Commission will make recommendations to government on short and medium term options in its interim report at the end of 2013.
Submissions to Airports Commission published
A summary of short and medium term proposals and long term proposals submitted for runways and airports have been published.
The Airports Commission has (7 August 2013) published a summary of the short and medium term measures submitted to inform its deliberations on how to make best use of existing airport capacity, and all the long term proposals submitted for new runways, airports and infrastructure changes designed to strengthen the UK and London’s air connections with the world.
Sir Howard Davies, the Chair of the Airports Commission, said:
‘The proposals that we have received and that we have published today (7 August 2013) demonstrate imaginative and thoughtful responses to the challenges that the Airports Commission has been set but also show clearly the wide spectrum of views that exist on these issues.’
‘The timetable to comment is tight, as we need to move quickly to winnow down the options and reduce uncertainty for potentially affected communities. I encourage everyone with an interest to make their views known, to help inform our recommendations on these complex and important questions.’
The short and medium term summary paper covers a wide range of proposals with recurring themes such as the importance of resilience in the UK’s airport system and of taking into account the noise and carbon emissions from any short and medium term measures proposed. These proposals will be analysed alongside any evidence and views submitted over the coming months.
The detailed proposals for long term options have (7 August 2013) all been published on the commission’s website (if not previously published by the sponsor themselves). Any comments received will be considered alongside the proposals.
The commission has also published an information note which gives details on the processes and timings that may be established in phase 2 of the commission’s work, should its interim report conclude that a significant increase in aviation capacity is needed. This is to inform all interested parties of the likely time frames for any work that may need to be undertaken in phase 2.
Parties are invited to submit comments on all the documents published (7 August 2013) from now until 27 September 2013.
Consultation – Proposed charging mechanisms for the new Scheme of Charges (Aviation Security)
The Civil Aviation Act 2012 transferred the responsibility for regulating aviation security from the Department for Transport to the Civil Aviation Authority (CAA) with effect from 1 April 2014. The purpose of this Charges Consultation is to seek initial comment on the CAA’s draft proposed mechanisms by which the additional cost of the new aviation security function will be recovered.
The consultation will start on Friday 2 August 2013 and end on Friday 13 September 2013.
The consultation documents can be found here.
Following conclusion of the consultation, responses will be collated and analysed before the CAA compiles its final proposals. A summary of representations received will be posted on the CAA web site during October 2013. There will be a further opportunity to comment on the final pricing proposals which will be contained within the annual CAA 2014/15 Charges Consultation that will be launched on 21 November 2013, closing on 13 February 2014.
Comments should be returned using the online submissions form.