Airport News
Below are news items relating to specific airports
Gatwick gets 3 YouGov polls done, which it interprets as rising support for its runway
Gatwick airport has commissioned 3 surveys, by YouGov. One was of 1009 people living near Gatwick, another of 1008 people living near Heathrow, and then 1037 people living in Greater London, the "Omnibus" survey. As with all these surveys, we are not told the exact structure of the questions, or if there was leading text. There are also, of course, no options for anyone to say No to any new runway, so the surveys are of limited value. The main question was: "If there was a straight choice between expanding Gatwick or Heathrow, with whichever airport didn't expand staying the same size as it is today, which would you chose?" [It is an oddly worded question, as both Heathrow and Gatwick can expand, and are expanding, their number of passengers.]. The response from the Gatwick area was that 25% preferred Gatwick, 36% preferred Heathrow and 11% did not know. The response from the Heathrow area was 51% in favour of Gatwick getting a runway, 40% in favour of a Heathrow runway, and 9% did not know. For for the Omnibus London survey, 46% preferred Gatwick runway, 35% Heathrow, and 18% did not know. Gatwick is interpreting these as huge support for its runway. Heathrow says its figures are entirely different. The reality indicates that polls, with an intended outcome, can prove almost anything.
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Plymouth airport is dead, says Sutton Harbour Holdings boss – Arup report says site should be safeguarded
Jason Schofield, chief executive of Sutton Harbour Holdings, has said that Plymouth airport is “dead” and mothballing the site will prevent regeneration of a strategic city asset for at least 20 years. He said there is no prospect of the airport, which closed in December 2011, ever reopening. The last commercial flight left more than 3 years ago. His comments are in response to a report from independent consultants Arup, which was released last week and concluded the land should remain protected for possible aviation uses. Council leader Tudor Evans said the report, commissioned as part of work being carried out on the Plymouth Plan, backs the local authority’s position that the land should be preserved for possible aviation uses. Sutton Harbour Holdings is now looking to sell the long-lease on the 113-acre site, said: “In calling for the former airport site to be safeguarded for aviation, the council is, therefore, proposing that one of the most important strategic development sites in the region, let alone the city, be mothballed for at least two decades, stymieing investment and job creation. ....The former airport site simply can’t work as a commercial airport."
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Concerns raised at Stanwell meeting on Heathrow expansion plans for incinerator, flood pit and car park
Proposals for a new flood pit, car park and incinerator in Stanwell as part of Heathrow's expansion plans were lambasted by over 60 residents at a public meeting on 15th September. The meeting focused on issues surrounding a car park dominating the biodiversity area north of the village hall and west of Oaks Road, an incinerator in the Bedfont Road area and a flood pit in Stanwell Moor. The feeling was that residents are not against progress, not against air travel, but they do not want unsuitable developments in the borough. Spelthorne already has one of the highest rates of deaths attributable to air pollution in the South East. Residents fear the effects of the polluted water from Heathrow being stored in the flood pit, especially after the problems with flooding this spring. Jonathan Deegan, chief planner at Heathrow, said: "All this has to go somewhere." A resident asked why past promises were allowed to be broken, including an inspector who had said in a consultation meeting that Terminal 4 would be the last terminal. Nigel Milton, director of policy and political relations for Heathrow, said: "The people who made those promises weren't in a position to make these promises." So any promises could be broken again then?
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Teddington petition to Heathrow to stop the easterly departures trial and not allow it to become permanent
Finding themselves now affected by a newly concentrated flight path for Heathrow easterly departures, people in Teddington are now up in arms about the intensified noise. The trial started on 28th July and is due to last till 15th January 2015. They have set up a petition, to Heathrow, to ask that the current noise level does not continue. The flight path trials are part of the Future Airspace Strategy (FAS) with the aim of getting ever more planes using Heathrow, more efficiently. People in Teddington are angry that Heathrow have stated that: "Before the trials started in December last year we briefed local authorities; residents groups; campaign groups and MPs around Heathrow" yet Heathrow will not provide any details on who was contacted and when. In reality most people were not informed or warned. They would have liked to have been informed (so much for airports stating how much better they are getting at communication with communities ....). The affected residents are calling on Heathrow to halt these trials as soon as possible due to the negative impact on the quality of life they are causing for many people. They also call on Heathrow to recommend that the flight path changes are not made permanent.
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BackHeathrow postal survey described as of the “do you support expansion of Heathrow or the boiling of puppies” variety
There is a good blog post by Matt Ballantine, a resident of Twickenham, on the latest survey which is being circulated by the campaign lobby, "BackHeathrow". The organisation was set up with money from Heathrow, to lobby on its behalf. How much funding comes from other sources is not clear. Twickenham is an area now suffering from altered, concentrated Heathrow flight paths. The BackHeathrow survey came through the post, and Matt describes it as of the “do you support the expansion of Heathrow or the boiling of puppies” variety, that he says seem to be so popular amongst political lobby groups. The survey is worded in such a way as to give highly leading questions, and give the impression that Heathrow is likely to close if it does not build a 3rd runway. That was never a realistic threat, and especially as the chance of a Thames estuary airport has significantly receded. The BackHeathrow survey aims to instil fear of losing their jobs into people who work at the airport, or in connected jobs. Matt comments that "This is no way to have an important debate .... In an age when information is so easily disseminated (and checked), organisations that think that it’s enough to gather false data to present their case are on very thin ice."
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Planning system ‘too democratic’ says City Airport chief Declan Collier
The CEO of London City Airport, Declan Collier, has said that because so many groups are consulted during the planning process in the UK, it takes twice as long to get a decision than it does in Europe. He said: "We are all frustrated by the delays. In the UK, the problem is that the planning system is too democratic, it takes too long to consult and to make a decision." Mr Collier is paid to make the most profit he can for his airport, and so he promotes the usual opinions about allegedly huge costs to the UK if it delays building more runways etc. The aviation industry has never been shy about making extravagant claims about the supposed benefits it brings the country, while being coy about the difference between profits for the industry, and benefits to the UK as a whole. On the democracy issue, in December 2013 David Cameron said: "It is frustrating sometimes that we can't do things faster in Britain but we have a planning system, we have democratic accountability for that planning system, we have a need for everyone to have their say and make their point. That's very important in the British system." In a country as crowded as the south of England, planning decisions need to be democratic, and to be seen to be so.
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Gatwick’s runway plans would mean labour shortage, considerable local house building and traffic congestion
If Heathrow or Gatwick got permission to build a new runway, both would struggle to find enough workers locally. Both are in areas of high employment. Workers would have to either be drawn in from elsewhere, commuting in each day - or a lot of extra housing would have to be built to house them. Both areas already have substantial problems in providing sufficient housing, even at present. More jobs are needed outside the south east. Gatwick claims 122,000 new jobs would be created by a new runway, with 22,000 in the immediate vicinity of the airport. The airport's labour shortage was underlined this summer when delays at baggage reclaim forced Gatwick to bus in extra staff from Southampton. Crispin Blunt, MP for Reigate, said the shortage was a “deal breaker” and “Gatwick are proposing an airport busier than Heathrow....which has 43,100 more people on-site today. Therefore the on-site job forecast is probably an underestimate by a factor of two. Gatwick can’t man this airport without a massive increase in local house building.” A study by independent consultants jointly commissioned by the West Sussex County Council and the Gatwick Diamond, in early 2013, found that 30,000 - 45,000 new houses would be needed if Gatwick got a 2nd runway.
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Mexico’s plans for 6-runway airport revive resistance from neighbouring farmers
Mexico’s President recently unveiled details for a new Mexico City airport that will quadruple existing capacity, from about 30 million to 120 million annual passengers, and potentially become Latin America’s biggest transit airport. But a group of farmers living near the planned site is fiercely opposed to the project – and they have already taken down one airport project before. There have been plans for this huge airport - with 6 runways - for some 15 years. There are the usual claims, that we are so used to in the UK, of huge economic benefits, thousands of jobs, and a fear that not building it will cost vast sums of money ..... familiar? In 2001 farmers around the nearby town of Atenco protested fiercely, as they were threatened with land expropriation for very small financial sums. They had armed with machetes and Molotov cocktails, blocked roads and clashed with police, and eventually the project was cancelled.The President says this time the airport will only be built on federal owned land, with no expropriations. However, there are doubts about the legality of land sales, when people thought the land would be used for an environmental project, not an airport. Intense opposition remains, and farmers say they "will defend our land with our lives.”
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Boris gives evidence to Env Audit Committee – Heathrow 3rd runway would make meeting air quality targets impossible
Boris Johnson has appeared before the House of Commons Environmental Audit Committee (EAC) to answer questions on air quality issues, which have resulted in the UK facing legal action from Brussels. Boris has been accused of trying to mislead MPs over the success of his efforts to reduce air pollution, as he again urged the government to adopt his proposals for a diesel scrappage scheme to help drivers move towards cleaner vehicles. The UK has have failed to meet legal NO2 limits and now faces legal action and potential fines from the European Commission for failing to comply. Johnson argued that a scrappage scheme was only fair to the "punters" that had been "seduced" into buying a diesel car. On Heathrow, he said a 3rd runway would be a "nightmare" for meeting the EU air quality directive, and make it impossible to meet the air quality targets for London. He said expanding Heathrow would increase vehicular pollution, despite earlier claiming building new roads elsewhere would reduce it. There have been suggestions that Heathrow air pollution, with a new runway, could only be reduced by a local congestion charge near the airport.
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Heathrow claim 60% of MPs back 3rd runway. Survey actually reveals it was only 55 MPs out of 95 interviewed. Not 650.
Heathrow airport has commissioned a survey by highly respected polling company, Ipsos Mori. They wanted to see how many MPs back a 3rd Heathrow runway. There are 650 MPs in the House of Commons. Heathrow is proudly claiming that "58% of MPs back a third runway at Heathrow". So that means the survey found that 390 MPs thought that ? Really? Amazing! But that is NOT the case at all. The Ipsos Mori survey only in fact interviewed 95 MPs. They say they interviewed 143, but then cut the number back to 95. These were, in theory, "interviewed to closely represent the profile of the House of Commons" - quite how is not explained. What the survey actually found was that just 55 MPs (58% of 95 MPs) said they backed a 3rd Heathrow runway. And when only these 55 MPs - not the whole 95 - were asked if they thought a 3rd Heathrow runway would get parliamentary approval, only 44 thought it was likely (of these only 18 thought it was very likely). This really is taking liberties with polling. Heathrow's rather extravagantly claim that the poll "explodes the myth that Heathrow is politically undeliverable" looks frankly threadbare ... and a bit desperate?