ICCAN consultation on its Corporate Strategy – public welcome to respond – deadline 16th June

The Airports Commission suggested, back in 2015, that there should be an independent body looking into aircraft noise issues – largely to help reduce public opposition to the massive increase in noise that would be generated by a Heathrow 3rd runway. The ICCAN (Independent Commission on Civil Aviation Noise) was finally set up earlier this year, with a chairman (Rob Light) and three commissioners (Colin Noble, Howard Simmons and Simon Henley). It has been visiting a lot of airports, and also community groups. It plans to take two years to make its recommendations, and it will then decide if it needs to have some statutory powers – it currently has no powers to get the industry to do anything. ICCAN says: “Our two-year aim – To improve public confidence and trust in the management of aviation noise, by building our expertise, credibility and profile across the UK.”  There is currently a consultation on ICCAN’s corporate strategy, which the public are requested to fill in.  No technical expertise is needed – and the views of ordinary people, to whom plane noise is of interest or concern, are solicited.  Deadline 16th June. 
.

 

Some quotes from the ICCAN website below:

ICCAN Corporate Strategy – your feedback requested

The Independent Commission on Civil Aviation Noise was established earlier this year to act as a credible, impartial voice on all matters relating to civil aviation noise. We are an independent non-statutory body, set up to play a key advisory role in the noise debate.

We are now publishing our first Corporate Strategy and would be grateful for your feedback. 

 

To read it and complete a short consultation, please click here: https://bit.ly/ICCAN

In our first few months of existence, we have met with representatives from airports, airlines, community groups, including individuals affected by aviation noise, as well as academics, trade associations, regulators and other experts.

These conversations have helped us understand the issues from a wide variety of perspectives and identify many of the challenges we will need to address. These challenges, alongside our proposed objectives and priorities, have helped shape our first draft Corporate Strategy.

This document covers the first two years of ICCAN’s work and sets out our priorities. Please feel free to share this with others.

Please take time to respond on the strategy and our objectives, by midnight on Sunday 16 June 2019.

If you would prefer to email your response, please send to contacticcan@iccan.gov.uk

Kind regards,

Rob Light

Head Commissioner – ICCAN

Independent Commission on Civil Aviation Noise

 

=====================

 

The newly set up ICCAN (Independent Commission on Civil Aviation Noise) has a consultation out, on its strategy for its first two years. People can comment on it.

The ICCAN was set up in March. Its Chairman is Rob Light. The three commissioners are Colin Noble, Howard Simmons and Simon Henley.

The deadline for the consultation on their strategy is not given – but probably best to get comments in within a few weeks from now ….

https://docs.google.com/…/1FAIpQLSfj0t6JC1XWiLyAsM…/viewform

They are on Twitter at @ICCAN_UK
They are on Facebook at https://www.facebook.com/ICCAN.UK/

ICCAN says:
“Our two-year aim – To improve public confidence and trust in the management of aviation noise, by building our expertise, credibility and profile across the UK.”

ICCAN has not been given any powers to enforce anything.

It is going to take them 2 years to: “Review existing enforcement mechanisms and consider whether enforcement powers are necessary”.

The consultation document (20 pages) is at

https://docs.google.com/…/1FAIpQLSfj0t6JC1XWiLyAsM…/viewform

and the response form is on that link.

They stress that people do NOT have to have technical expertise on aircraft noise. They just want everyone’s opinions, etc.

It need not take too long to fill in the questionnaire.

The ICCAN does not yet have a website, but one is in preparation.

 

A few extracts are copied below, to save reading the whole thing:

Our remit is not to stop airports growing; it
is to ensure that aviation noise in the
future affects people and communities
less.


We aspire to see the
aim of reducing noise drive investment
and management decisions in the
boardrooms of airports and airlines, and
we will seek to encourage incentives to
achieve this.

——–

Over next two years we will review the
different aspects of the evidence base
used to inform decisions by the
Department for Transport, the Civil
Aviation Authority and local authorities.

——–

ICCAN will be reviewed in two years’ time
and a decision will be made about its
future direction as an organisation,
including whether to give it increased
powers. In the meantime, ICCAN’s role is
threefold: to listen, to evaluate and to
advise.

============

Our Head Commissioner, Rob Light, was
joined by three other commissioners
(Colin Noble, Howard Simmons and
Simon Henley) in March 2019. Since

———-

We want to see the management of
aviation noise and its effects on people
and communities becoming a key factor
in the future decisions of government,
airports and airlines, such as airport
expansion or airspace change.

———

It’s clear to us that, in some areas of the
country, the trust between airports and
their communities has broken down. This
might be due to broken promises made
during previous airport expansion,
development or airspace changes, or a
perceived lack of transparency in the way
airspace change decisions are made.
Often when airports are making attempts
to mitigate against the impacts of noise,
they find it hard to communicate this to
the community because of the breakdown
in trust.

—–

We’re determined to work
towards clearer, simpler access to
consistent information for all the
community to help address these issues.

===

The issues of trust and clarity have
informed our first strategic objective – to
‘increase trust, transparency and
clarity in the aviation noise debate’.

——

P 8
But as we
near our two-year review we won’t
hesitate to recommend to the
Government that enforcement powers
should be introduced, should we consider
at that point that the industry and
decision-makers are not acting in the best
interests of their communities, or not
taking their concerns seriously.

======

We won’t be successful in achieving our
aims without establishing our expertise,
authority and credibility.

====

We are not, for example, a noise
complaints body or ombudsman, although
after two years we will consider if it would
be appropriate to establish one in the UK.

==========

We are, however, an independent body,
free to challenge everyone in a quest for
better aviation noise outcomes.
We are also confident that our current
remit enables us to deliver on our
strategic aim and objectives to improve
trust in the management of aviation noise.

—–

It is imperative that the aviation industry reviews its priorities and puts noise higher up the
decision-making agenda, holding to account those responsible for breaches of commitment.

——–

We will be permanently based in Woking and supported by a small team, led by the
Secretary to the Commission. When fully staffed we will have 14 members of the
secretariat, split between analytical, policy, communications and business support roles.

“Review existing enforcement mechanisms and consider whether enforcement powers are necessary”.

 

See the whole document here 

https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSfj0t6JC1XWiLyAsMFZFBaEdCvfTJHxl9XxUyFGsZjyr81faw/viewform?fbclid=IwAR0EqJ59SbR-x0yoRA631yWw09XJrMsiHCtrJtwbZPEViKYVlryEOrM_H1Y

.

.

.