Stop Stansted Expansion (SSE) has served legal papers requiring the Government to take control of deciding the airport’s expansion plans
Stop Stansted Expansion (SSE) has served legal papers requiring the Government to take control of deciding the latest Stansted Airport expansion proposals, or face proceedings in the High Court. This puts the Secretary of State for Transport on formal notice of a Judicial Review application if he fails to designate the airport’s planning application as a Nationally Significant Infrastructure Project (NSIP) within 14 days. Such a designation would mean the application would be considered nationally (a longer, more detailed, more effective process) rather than by the local planning authority, Uttlesford District Council (UDC). The application for expansion at Stansted was submitted by Manchester Airports Group (MAG) on behalf of the airport last February. If approved it would mean a 44% increase in flights and a 66% increase in passengers compared to 2017 levels. From the outset, SSE fiercely opposed the attempt to rush through the application and has argued that the scale of the application – the threshold is 10 million more annual passengers – meant that it had to be determined nationally rather than by the local Council. Stansted is trying to put the increase at 8million (35m to 43m) to avoid the NSIP process.
.
Tweet
Starting gun fired on airport High Court action
20.7.2018 (Stop Stansted Expansion press release)
Stop Stansted Expansion (SSE) has served legal papers requiring the Government to take control of deciding the latest Stansted Airport expansion proposals, or face proceedings in the High Court.
The move puts the Secretary of State for Transport on formal notice of a Judicial Review application if he fails to designate the airport’s planning application as a Nationally Significant Infrastructure Project (NSIP) within 14 days. Such a designation would mean the application would be considered nationally rather than by the local planning authority, Uttlesford District Council (UDC).
The application for expansion at Stansted was submitted by Manchester Airports Group (MAG) on behalf of the airport last February. If approved it would mean a 44 per cent increase in flights and a 66 per cent increase in passengers compared to 2017 levels. From the outset, SSE fiercely opposed the attempt to rush through the application and has argued that the scale of the application meant that it had to be determined nationally rather than by the local Council.
National determination of a planning application is a lengthier and far more thorough process than local determination, involving detailed scrutiny by an expert team. By contrast, despite having no expertise in the field of major airport infrastructure projects, UDC had reached an agreement with MAG to ‘fast track’ its planning application in return for staged payments. SSE branded this a ‘cash for favours’ agreement.
For almost four months SSE has been corresponding on this matter with both the Secretary of State for Transport, Chris Grayling, and the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government (‘HCLG’), currently James Brokenshire. Neither Minister is at this stage prepared to ‘call in’ the airport planning application for national determination, although James Brokenshire who has overall responsibility for the planning process has indicated that he will consider this when the process is further advanced.
Meanwhile the attempt by MAG and UDC to rush through the planning application and have it decided by July 18th has come unstuck. Under pressure from Essex and Herts County Councils as well as from SSE, UDC now recognises that it needs a great deal more information from MAG before its planning application can even be sensibly considered. No new target date has yet been set for determining the application but it is unlikely to be before October.
SSE Chairman Peter Sanders commented: “Despite the current delay on the part of the local Council, we cannot afford to wait any longer to ask for a legal ruling as to whether this planning application should be dealt with nationally rather than locally. That is why SSE has now served formal notice of an application to the High Court for Judicial Review proceedings.”
At this stage SSE’s action is targeted solely at the Secretary of State for Transport but SSE has reserved its position with regard to any potential future action against the Secretary of State for HCLG and against UDC. All these parties have been served with copies of SSE’s legal documents, as has Stansted Airport Limited.
While SSE will ask the High Court for an expedited hearing, this may still not take place until next year. Accordingly, SSE has made representations to the interested parties seeking their agreement that it would be inappropriate for the current airport planning application to be decided until the outcome of the Judicial Review is known, pointing out that there is no urgent need to determine this planning application because Stansted Airport is still nowhere near its present cap of 35 million passengers per annum (mppa).
ENDS
NOTES TO EDITORS
Stansted Airport handled 25.9mppa in 2017. It presently has permission for 35mppa and its planning application asks for this to be raised to 43mppa.
SSE is represented by leading planning barristers Paul Stinchcombe QC and Richard Walk, both of 39 Essex Chambers, Chancery Lane.
http://stopstanstedexpansion.com/press510.html
.
Critics of Stansted expansion plans ramp up campaign
20 July 2018
By Sarah Chambers (Ipswich Star)
Campaigners trying to stop Stansted Airport from expanding its passenger numbers have registered their intention to take their case to court to get it decided nationally.
Stop Stansted Expansion (SSE) says it has served legal papers requiring the Government to take control of deciding the proposals, or face proceedings in the High Court.
The papers formally notify transport secretary Chris Grayling of the SSE’s plan to apply within 14 days for a Judicial Review as the group pushes its case to have the airport’s planning application designated as a Nationally Significant Infrastructure Project (NSIP). If the designation gets the go-ahead, it would mean the application would be considered nationally rather than by the local planning authority, Uttlesford District Council.
Stansted said its planning application to increase the limit on passengers at Stansted from 35m to 43m a year was submitted “following extensive consultation with the local community” and kept the airport within its current boundary.
“We support the secretary of state for transport’s decision that the application should be determined locally. This is in line with the covernment’s planning policies and consistent with its clear support for airports seeking to make best use of existing runway capacity,” an airport spokesperson said.
Campaigners claim the application for expansion submitted by Manchester Airports Group (MAG) on behalf of the airport last February would mean a 44% increase in flights and a 66% increase in passengers compared to 2017 levels.
It said the application should not be “rushed through” and wants it determined nationally, as it was “a lengthier and far more thorough process than local determination, involving detailed scrutiny by an expert team”.
SSE chairman Peter Sanders said: “Despite the current delay on the part of the local council, we cannot afford to wait any longer to ask for a legal ruling as to whether this planning application should be dealt with nationally rather than locally. That is why SSE has now served formal notice of an application to the High Court for Judicial Review proceedings.” Campaigners have taken on top planning barristers Paul Stinchcombe QC and Richard Walk to represent them.
http://www.ipswichstar.co.uk/news/stop-stansted-expansion-aims-for-judicial-review-1-5616901
.
See earlier:
Uttlesford District Council to delay decision on Stansted’s expansion application – details needed on noise, air pollution & surface access
Plans to increase the number of passengers Stansted Airport handles, along with other infrastructure, have been delayed after Uttlesford District Council (UDC) asked for more information. Stansted’s application to expand the number of passengers allowed per year from 35 million to 43 million was due to be heard by UDC on July 18th. But it is unlikely to be heard before at least one more consultation and one more public meeting. A spokesperson from the council said: “The council has been examining the robustness of the evidence supplied within the application, particularly in relation to surface access, noise and air quality. Ongoing discussions are taking place with relevant stakeholders including Highways England, Essex and Hertfordshire County Councils, Natural England and engaged consultants, and further work is being undertaken.” Additional information is needed from the airport to ensure that the Planning Committee has all it needs in order to make an informed decision on the application. UDC has also announced that the Planning Performance Agreement (PPA), an agreement that fast tracks the application in return for monetary payments to UDC’s planning officers to cover the costs of processing the applications, will be re-negotiated.
Click here to view full story…
Stop Stansted Expansion asks Government to call in the airport’s expansion plans, or face a JR
Stop Stansted Expansion (SSE) have written a 36-page letter to the Secretary for Housing, Communities and Local Government, Sajiv Javid MP, asking formally for call-in of the application by Stansted for expansion. They include District Council incompetence, bias and a series of statutory planning grounds, as reasons why the airport’s expansion plans should be determined nationally – rather than locally by Uttlesford District Council (UDC). SSE has also made clear that refusal by the Secretary of State to call-in the application will trigger an application for Judicial Review in the High Court. SSE is concerned that UDC has taken a blinkered approach to the rules for considering the application in its desire to do the airport’s bidding. UDC sees potential gain for itself, even though the planned expansion would be at the expense of not only the Uttlesford villages and market towns it is meant to serve, but communities further afield in Essex, Hertfordshire, Suffolk and Cambridgeshire. SSE’s barrister, a planning expert Paul Stinchcombe QC of 39 Essex Chambers has identified that UDC has erred in law in its interpretation of the rules by not recognising the application as a Nationally Significant Infrastructure Project. If the Stansted application was approved, it would mean a 66% increase in passengers and a 44% increase in flights compared to 2017.
Click here to view full story…
Stop Stansted Expansion critical of airport expansion application, bypassing local authority scrutiny
Stansted Airport has applied to increase the current cap on annual passenger numbers from 35 million to 43 million passengers, in what campaigners say is a ‘sweetheart’ deal with local planning authorities to avoid government scrutiny. The application to Uttlesford District Council (UDC) seeks permission to increase the use of its single runway over the next 10 years. However, the Stop Stansted Expansion (SSE) group said the application was misleading in claiming that further expansion of the airport would have no significant environmental impacts. SSE said it was “profoundly concerned at the lengths Manchester Airports Group (MAG) is prepared to go to to avoid scrutiny by secretary of State by amending passenger numbers” as they are trying to keep the expansion to 8 million, rather than 10 million, passengers – avoiding the application being dealt with as a major infrastructure project. SSE said it understands that in return for local planning approval from the district council, MAG might make financial contributions to help fund local road schemes and other local projects in the delivery of the local plan. SSE said: “It doesn’t take a rocket scientist to work out that a 44% increase in the number of flights and a 66% increase in the number of passengers means a lot more noise, a lot more pollution and a lot more traffic on our already congested local roads.”
Click here to view full story…
Stansted applies to UDC to raise the current passenger number cap from 35 mppa to 43 mppa
Stansted airport has submitted a planning application to Uttlesford District Council to raise the current cap on the number of passengers it is permitted to handle from 35 million passengers per annum (mppa) to 43mppa, while committing to remain within current approved limits on aircraft noise and flight numbers. This is to make best use of the airport’s existing single runway over the next decade (with the usual claims of economic benefits, jobs etc etc). Stansted say their expansion, from 35 mppa, would ease pressure on the London airport system when Heathrow and Gatwick are capacity constrained. However, local group Stop Stansted Expansion (SSE), says the airport handled about 25 mppa in 2017, and has permission to grow to 35 mppa, granted after a 5-month public inquiry in 2007. Despite this, in summer 2017 the airport’s owners, MAG, said they “urgently” needed permission to expand to a massive 44.5 million passenger airport over the next 12 years. They claim there will be no more noise, but in practice the gap between planes on average would reduce from about 135 seconds now, to about 85 seconds. SSE says the changes in the current application are “almost entirely presentational.”
Click here to view full story…
.
.
.
.