Contents
SASIG 2014/15 Meeting Date
Regional News
Industry News
European News
Parliamentary News
Government News
House of Lords Questions
Media News
SASIG 2014/15 Meeting Date
6 March 2015
Meetings are held at Local Government House, Smith Square, SW1P 3HZ, location map.
Regional News
15 February 2015 – Conservative Party candidate for South Thanet, Craig Mackinlay, has met with the Government’s transport minister John Hayes to urge him to press forward as fast as possible with plans for the future of Manston Airport. The two men held talks at the airport’s terminal building on Thursday to discuss how best to resolve the issue. Manston Airport was closed in May last year, with the loss of around 140 jobs. It has since been bought by property investors, Chris Musgrave and Trevor Cartner, who say they would like to develop the site. Protestors are still hopeful that the site can be returned to an airport. Transport minister John Hayes said that ‘an announcement will be made soon’.
15 February 2015 – The planning application for the Coventry Gateway scheme has been rejected. Supporters had said the site would generate jobs, but local campaigners lodged objections. After a number of delays, Communities Secretary Eric Pickles has rejected the application.
15 February 2015 – Aviation Minister Robert Goodwill has given the Government’s support for regional airports. His comments came during a visit to Bristol Airport to view latest developments to the terminal, including a £8.6m extension.
15 February 2015 – The Member of Parliament for Arundel and South Downs Nick Herbert has joined a group of Surrey and Sussex MPs saying a second runway at Gatwick Airport would be ‘a catastrophe’ for local communities. Mr Herbert is a member of the Gatwick Coordination Group along with MP’s for: Mid Sussex, Nicholas Soames; Horley, Sam Gyimah and Reigate, Crispin Blunt. The group also has the support of the Member of Parliament for Horsham Francis Maude, who is not allowed to join officially as a Cabinet Minister.
16 February 2015 – The Mayor of London Boris Johnson has criticised Network Rail for failing to fast-track ‘nationally important’ upgrades of the rail line between London and Stansted Airport and Cambridge. The issue of doubling the amount of capacity on the line by putting in four tracks on a bottleneck north of London has led to mounting criticism of Network Rail’s Chief Executive Mark Carne. Mr Johnson is urging him to progress the issue.
16 February 2015 – Member of Parliament for Pudsey, Horsforth and Aireborough Stuart Andrew has stressed the need for a rail link to Leeds Bradford Airport during Transport Questions in the House of Commons. Mr Andrews stressed that the connection of one of the largest airports in the north to the rail network would contribute to achieving the ‘northern economic powerhouse’. He said the Leeds Bradford International Airport Connectivity Study set out the potential benefit of a new link road, but that it could result in further congestion and inhibit the potential for economic growth.
16 February 2015 – Members of the Bondholders marketing organisation are set to hear about a £17m investment programme at Humberside Airport.
18 February 2015 The leader of the Liberal Democrat group on Tandridge District Council Chris Botten has complained that council officers had replied directly to the Airports Commission regarding a possible second runway at Gatwick Airport without consulting elected councillors first. Councillor Botten said: ‘I have complained repeatedly that members are being bypassed and key matters being decided on by officers with no reference to the elected members or the people they represent.
18 February 2015 – The Harpenden Local Highways and Transport Stakeholder Forum will discuss the performance of rail operators and the expansion of Luton Airport this week. Also on the agenda at the Forum is flooding and drainage issues, Harpenden parking schemes and gully cleaning schemes.
19 February 2015 – Planning permission has been given for a logistics facility at the Manchester Airport City project. Located at Airport City Manchester’s Global Logistics site, the new-build property known as ALPHA is designed to meet growing demand for small to medium logistics units. Construction will start in the coming weeks. Once complete in early 2016, the new building will offer units from 17,500 to 35,000 sq ft arranged in a single terrace.
19 February 2015 – Tickets are being sold for commercial flights from Blackpool Airport. Airport representatives said it was in talks with the operator Citywings about resuming passenger flights from the site to the Isle of Man.
19 February 2015 – The South Wales Chamber of Commerce is calling for local business leaders and politicians to support the expansion of Heathrow and Gatwick airports. The Chamber’s Director Graham Morgan said that expanding an airport in the south east of England was the best option for Welsh businesses and options for connecting flights to Cardiff should be explored. The Chamber is hosting an event at the National Assembly at which business leaders and politicians will debate the need to increase airport capacity across the UK.
Industry News
15 February 2015 – Aer Lingus has reaffirmed its support for a £1bn takeover offer from British Airways owner, International Consolidated Airlines Group.
16 February 2015 – A proposal to introduce Certificates of Airworthiness (C of A) for some gyroplanes has been put forward by the UK Civil Aviation Authority (CAA). The move would see type-certified, factory-built gyros qualify for C of As, rather than Permits to Fly, as at present. This would allow the aircraft to be used for commercial operations. The CAA today launched a formal consultation on its proposal, calling on all interested parties to comment. It follows a request by the manufacturer, Rotorsport UK, for its type-certified gyros to be given C of A standard. Other manufacturers are expected to follow suit. In the absence of any internationally published airworthiness requirements for type-certificated gyroplanes, the CAA said it had been necessary to develop an appropriate set of requirements. A working group made up of CAA specialists and colleagues from industry – including European manufacturers – subsequently developed a ‘special condition’ which supplements the contents of the British Civil Airworthiness Requirements (BCAR) ‘Section T’ and will enable type-certified gyroplanes to meet International Civil Aviation Organisation (ICAO) requirements and be issued with individual C of As. The consultation is seeking gyroplane owners and operators views on the proposal and will remain open until 13 March, responses should be made to [email protected]
19 February 2015 – The airline operator Iraqi Airways is to start flying from Manchester Airport with two new weekly services. The carrier will serve Sulaymaniyah and Erbil from March 15. Erbil is the largest city and capital of the Kurdistan region in Iraq, while Sulaymaniyah is a city in southern Kurdistan.
European News
21 February 2014 – Finnish airport operator Finavia has said that the renovation and expansion works for Ivalo Airport in Inari are proceeding as planned with a scheduled completion date of spring 2015. The initial stages of the project were completed in late 2014, when the runway, taxiway and apron were resurfaced. The next phase of the project will involve expanding the main terminal building. Once the new extension is completed, Finavia will undertake a series of renovations to the rest of the terminal.
Parliamentary News
12 February 2015 – The House of Commons have debated the effect of national infrastructure projects on local redevelopment. During the debate the Parliamentary Under-Secretary for Communities and Local Government and Member of Parliament for Keightley, Kris Hopkins said that it was important to ensure local areas benefited from national infrastructure projects. A summery of the debate is shown below with a full transcript available here
Responding to a debate on the effect of national infrastructure projects on local redevelopment, Mr Hopkins said that infrastructure investment was a ‘critical building block of the Government’s long-term economic plan’. He went on to state that he was determined to see the maximum benefits for local people as a result of Government investments. Taking Crossrail as an example, the Minister highlighted that the project would create jobs and business opportunities across the country. Continuing, Mr Hopkins noted improvements to the planning regime for significant infrastructure projects, pointing to the Hinkley Point C nuclear power station as a project that had benefited from this. Whilst it was important to ensure decisions over developments were made quickly, it was also essential local people had the chance to influence decisions on national infrastructure where it affected their area, he commented.
Returning to the Hinkley Point example, the Minister said that 37 public exhibitions and 67 stakeholder meetings had been held on the project. Stating that local leadership was key, he noted the creation of the Old Oak and Park Royal Mayoral Development Corporation (MDC) in West London, which brought together transport agencies, local authorities, developers, landowners, local businesses and local communities around a common goal of ensuring that local development was a success.
Recognising concerns over the MDC’s members, the Minister said that this was a matter for local agreement. However, he highlighted that the London boroughs impacted would be represented on both the board and its planning committee. ‘I am particularly pleased that, as a result of public consultation, the board will also include local business and community representatives’, he added. In addition, he stressed that the planning inspectorate had the opportunity to reject the plan if it found there was not sufficient affordable housing.
On localism, he stressed that local authorities, regardless of their political colour, would be empowered to have that strong relationship in driving forward the day-to-day planning activities associated with the MDC. On national projects, the Minister stated that the Government was delivering ‘a comprehensive northern transport strategy that will complement High Speed 2 and set out the priority corridors and areas for investment and infrastructure across the north of England, which will drive economic growth and deliver the vision of the northern powerhouse’.
Speaking for the Opposition, Shadow Planning and Procurement Minister Dr Roberta Blackman-Woods raised concerns over the MDC’s governance arrangements, the timescales adopted, and the lack of accountability to local residents. Local residents were concerned about uneven development across the MDC area and about whether there would be any affordable housing, she elaborated. Noting that the Old Oak and Park Royal MDC would have only three local authority representatives on the board and three members on the planning committee, Ms Blackman-Woods questioned why that was considered acceptable, given the extensive powers given to MDCs under the Localism Act 2011. She asked why the Minister had adopted ‘such a top-down model for delivering new infrastructure and housing when other, better models are available’. Highlighting the conclusions of the Lyons Review, she called for an obligation for ‘meaningful community participation’ when it came to local developments, and for the consideration of sustainability as well as human health and well-being to be made statutory purposes. On national infrastructure projects, the Shadow Minister emphasised the need for a much better link between what happened nationally and what happened locally. ‘The Labour Party, through Sir John Armitt, has come up with some really good proposals for improving national infrastructure by having it underpinned by an independent assessment of our needs, which should be carried out through a detailed assessment that looks forward over a 30-year period’, she asserted.
Bringing the debate Member of Parliament for Hammersmith Andy Slaughter began by addressing the proposed expansion of Heathrow Airport. Stating that ‘Heathrow expansion is a much bigger issue than pollution, congestion and the disruption of life for two million people who live in West London’, he highlighted that most people living in West London constituencies believed there were better alternatives. Moving on to address HS2, he emphasised the importance of considering the risks and detriment that major projects could bring, and of considering whether the advantages they brought were properly shared between national gain and local benefit. On the Old Oak and Park Royal MDC, he questioned why Wormwood Scrubs had been included, stressing the importance of preserving open spaces in London. Also raising concern over the lack of local accountability within the MDC, he suggested that the Government should ‘think again about ratifying what is effectively a folie de grandeur of the Mayor’.
17 February 2015 – The House of Commons Energy and Climate Change Committee have published the report ‘5th Report – Linking emissions trading systems’. The report argues how a new global climate agreement due to be agreed at UN talks in Paris later this year must allow carbon trading between countries to enable emissions trading systems around the world to link-up in future and ensure the world cuts climate-changing emissions in the most cost-effective way possible. The current hybrid approach in international climate negotiations -which combines top-down elements for establishing and reviewing targets, with bottom-up elements of pledge and review tied to national policies and actions is welcomed by the MPs. However, the report argues that any new climate agreement must crucially allow parties to meet their Intended Nationally Determined Contribution’s (INDCs) by transferring parts of their contributions to other parties and financing emissions reduction activities in other countries. The UNFCCC could also play a critical role in providing basic standards including monitoring, reporting and verification, so that allowances are bought and sold in a transparent way and there is no prospect of double counting. Further details are available here.
19 February 2015 – The Transport Committee will hold the final session of its smaller airports inquiry on Monday 23 February 2015. The session will cover factors affecting growth at smaller airports. The Committee will hear evidence from: Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State, Department for Transport Robert Goodwill and Regional Airports and Contingencies Policy Adviser, Department for Transport, Geoff Latham.
Government News
19 February 2015 – The Transport Secretary Patrick McLoughlin has travelled across Cornwall to oversee how Government investment in the county’s transport system is reportedly helping to tackle long-standing connectivity challenges. Mr McLoughlin flew into Newquay Airport from Gatwick, an air route supported by £2.5 million government funding. More than 17,000 passengers have used the route in the first 2 months of operation and it is estimated 100,000 travellers will use the route each year for work and leisure. Mr McLoughlin said, ‘Cornwall is seeing the benefits of the government’s investment in transport. Better road, air, rail and sea links will make the county an even more attractive destination for businesses and visitors. Our transport infrastructure funding is supporting economic growth and creating jobs in Cornwall as part of this government’s long-term economic plan. The Transport Secretary also visited the new Camborne Pool-Redruth Link Road which, when opened later this year, will unlock land for development and help create 5,500 jobs and 6,200 new homes. Mr McLoughlin’s tour also included a visit to Penzance Harbour where he toured the ferry Scillonian III and viewed ongoing work to improve the harbour. In addition, the Transport Secretary saw how funding from the Local Growth Deal will help relieve congestion and support economic growth in Truro, and discussed planned improvements to the city’s railway station’.
House of Lords Questions
Laird – Fitted medical devices and body scanners at airports
18 February 2015
Lord Laird (Non-affiliated peer ): To ask Her Majesty’s Government whether the Medicines and Healthcare Products Regulatory Agency has advised that people with implanted pacemakers, implantable cardio veter-defibrilators or neurostimulators can use the scanners at airport security; whether the agency will publish the information that has allowed the policy of not using scanners for such people to change; and whether they have advised airports in the United Kingdom.
Earl Howe (Parliamentary Under Secretary of State for Quality, Conservative peer): The Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency (MHRA) has published advice on how patients with pacemakers, implantable cardioverter defibrillators or neurostimulators can safely use airport security scanners. Full details of the current version of this advice are available at the following address on the gov.uk website: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/electromagnetic-interference-sources/electromagnetic-interference-sources. This advice states that we are not aware of any interference between body scanners and these devices, and gives some simple advice on how to avoid interference with screening wands and metal detectors. This advice was published in 2010 following the introduction of body scanners to United Kingdom airports. A copy has been attached. The advice was based upon a review of published literature. Prior to 2010 the MHRA had not published airport security advice for these patients and therefore there has been no change to published policy. Responsibility for advising airports in the United Kingdom rests with the Department for Transport (DfT). The MHRA advice has been reflected in the Code of Practice for Acceptable Use of Security Scanners in the Aviation Security Environment issued by DfT which can be found at: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/information-on-the-implementation-of-security-scanners. A copy of the Code of Practice is attached. DfT requires airports to follow this Code of Practice as part of the Directions served on the deployment of security scanners.
Media News
20 February 2015 – Westminster Environment, Energy and Transport Forum have published the transcripts from their 5 February event ‘The future of UK airport capacity: regional development, connectivity, and the Airports Commission report’. The report is available here – the following password is required to access the notes: wfp7168.
SASIG ParliamentaryNews Bulletin 16 February – 22 February
SASIG RegionalIndustryNews Bulletin 16 February – 22 February
The Parliamentary information in this Bulletin is sourced from De Havilland Information Services plc .