General News
Below are links to stories of general interest in relation to aviation and airports.
“Grow Heathrow” runway protest community given 14 days to leave site in Sipson
"Grow Heathrow" is a community project that has been living in Sipson since 2010, as a protest against a 3rd Heathrow runway. They have been fighting eviction for many years. Now Grow Heathrow has been given 14 days to leave, by the High Court. They had taken over a derelict site and turned it into a partly self sufficient community, growing a lot of their own food and acting as a community centre. On 29th June Judge Dight granted a possession order to the landlords of the site, Lewdown Holdings. The judge acknowledged the hardship and logistical difficulties which will be caused by the effect of the order - which requires the eviction of an entire settled community, but granted Lewdown the possession order. The judge said the owner had no need to justify his alleged failure to use the land for any purpose, though it had been derelict. Lewdown Holdings have had their planning permission for the site rejected, so nothing is planned on it. Grow Heathrow say they will appeal, and they do not intend to leave. They are being given pro bono legal help from Leigh Day. One of the activists living at Grow Heathrow said: “We are completely committed to continuing support for the local community. Airport expansion will make their homes uninhabitable." They have a lot of support from local residents, one of whom commented: "They took over a piece of neglected land which they skilfully rejuvenated to provide a vibrant hub for like-minded people.”
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What’s wrong with infrastructure decision making? – report shows why decisions like Heathrow can be badly flawed
In a very interesting new study, entitled "What’s wrong with infrastructure decision making? Conclusions from six UK case studies" by the Institute for Government, some useful problems are shown up. In the case of the Heathrow runway, the study says - as with other bad infrastructure approvals - "poor investment decisions could lock the economy into inappropriate infrastructure systems for many years, with significant harmful effects on future prosperity." ... "Bad investments can result in white elephants – projects that waste public money and fail to deliver the promised economic benefits." The report says there is a serious problem in that government does not always identify the best investments. They say some of the reasons why government can make bad choices (eg. on Heathrow) are that there is no national strategy for infrastructure investment (no UK aviation policy); the more ambitious the forecast, the more questionable the model (seriously the case with crazy forecasts of alleged economic benefit for the runway); Ministers and senior civil servants can fail to understand project risk; Government finds it difficult to make decisions which create ‘concentrated losers’ (which is an immense problem for Heathrow with local impacts like air pollution, congestion etc, and noise impacts over hundreds of square miles); and no method to properly compensate people for the costs the runway would impose on them.
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Gatwick continues to press for 2nd runway, taking advantage of government weakness on Heathrow runway
Gatwick is again saying it wants a 2nd runway, after it has increased its annual number of passengers to over 44 million. Gatwick hopes to exploit possible indecision by government over the Heathrow 3rd runway, continuing to claim (very dubiously) that its 2nd runway would be “financeable and deliverable”. Gatwick said its number of passengers has risen, so far this year, by 7.7% compared to the same time last year. The vast majority of Gatwick travellers are on short haul leisure trips to Europe, but it hopes to get more long haul holiday travellers to the USA and the middle east or far east. It remains largely a “bucket and spade” airport. Gatwick wants to persuade government that its 2nd runway would be a useful alternative to Heathrow, which is used by most business travellers to destinations in the Far East and the Middle East. Since the June 2017 election and the loss of a proper Tory majority, the government will have increasing problems pushing through an unpopular Heathrow runway, with opponents such as Boris Johnson - and Jeremy Corbyn. Stewart Wingate, chief executive of Gatwick, says he can build long haul routes and they can see future passenger demand and "we stand ready to deliver should the government give us the go-ahead.” In reality, Gatwick is in the wrong place, and has surface access transport far below the standard that would be needed for a 2 runway airport.
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Lord Adonis: Hard Brexit could halt Heathrow runway plans, as investors won’t risk the money in UK
National Infrastructure Commission chairman, Lord Adonis, says UK must maintain ties with EU to save key projects such as Heathrow 3rd runway and HS2. He said a hard Brexit would spell the end for the 3rd Heathrow runway. Heathrow airport was keen, before the referendum in 2016, for the UK to remain in the EU. While Heathrow, since the referendum, has argued that Brexit makes its 3rd runway ever more important, Andrew Adonis said private investment in infrastructure would be off the table unless Britain could maintain ties with the EU. He said that a host of major projects including HS2, Crossrail 2 and HS3 rail links between northern cities, as well as universal broadband and mobile services, would be under threat but particularly those that rely on private funding. “These decisions on Brexit have a crucial bearing on infrastructure. Business will not invest for the long term if they think Britain is going down the tube. It’s as simple as that." And "If we were to go for a hard Brexit which severs Britain’s trading ties with the continent I think we could be heading for a calamity as a country.” The cost of the expansion at Heathrow would be about £17.5 billion (with Heathrow only paying about £1 billion towards surface access). They are trying to find cost savings. The money needs to come from its range of foreign investors, the biggest two of which are a Spanish Ferrovial (25%) consortium and Qatar’s sovereign wealth fund (20%).
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Theresa May’s DUP deal offers tax breaks for Northern Ireland airports – detailed report to be commissioned
The details of the deal struck between the DUP and the Conservatives say: "A detailed consultative report will be commissioned into the impact of VAT and APD on tourism in Northern Ireland to recommend how best to build upon the growing success of that sector." DUP sources told the Guardian that the abolition or radical cut to the air passenger duty (APD) for Northern Ireland’s three airports, which is not included in the initial deal, would be a “post-Brexit ask”. The DUP and the Tories both agreed that they would review APD, the abolition of which the airline industry in Northern Ireland claims would create thousands of new jobs and enable the region to compete with airports in the Irish republic, where the tax has been ditched. DUP sources said it would be opportune to demand APD’s abolition in the region once Brexit had happened and the UK was no longer bound by EU-imposed rules on airline taxation. But having no APD in Northern Ireland has implications for other UK regional airports. MPs from the North East want a fair deal for their airports, as there would be more competition from Northern Ireland. This comes after the Scottish government, which has control over its APD, announced plans to cut the duty by 50% in 2018 at airports such as Edinburgh and Glasgow. Other regions of the UK need investment, and not only Northern Ireland.
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Andrew Adonis, Chair of National Infrastructure Commission, urges government to get on with Heathrow runway
Lord Andrew Adonis, chair of the UK National Infrastructure Commission, has urged the government to show it is committed to getting a 3rd Heathrow runway built. He wants to reassure backers of the runway that the current woeful political instability in government will not delay the project. The FT says Lord Adonis (a long time backer of the runway) considers it “essential” - but though it was in the Tory election manifesto, it was not mentioned in the (watered-down) Queen's Speech. The Airports National Policy Statement is due to be considered by the Transport Select Committee (when it is re-convened) and then voted on in the House of Commons - perhaps early 2018. Andrew Adonis has urged Theresa May to get the vote as early as possible; that would be May 2018 "to send out a positive signal to business"... that "Britain is open for business.” He considers (with the problems on Hinckley Point C power station) that getting the runway built would be "the “acid test” of the government’s commitment to infrastructure investment." But the parliamentary vote is far less certain that before the election, and Theresa May is not likely to remain Prime Minister for long. If Boris Johnson became PM, he has always been vehemently opposed to the runway. There remains huge uncertainty about the whole scheme.
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Leaked report indicates raised risk of air accidents after CAA cost-cutting without enough staff
Cost-cutting and an overstretched workforce at the Civil Aviation Authority have increased the risk of air accidents in Britain, according to a leaked internal report. This was drafted by the CAA but never released. It criticised failings, including in monitoring of flight training and licensing of pilots - and said the CAA did not have the resources to do their job properly. The provisional report – produced by the CAA’s head of strategy and safety assurance at the request of senior directors (Mark Swan)– warned that the problems it identified were “those most likely to feature as contributory causal factors in aircraft accidents”. A survey showed that fewer than 10% of employees believed their colleagues had time to undertake important safety activities to an acceptable standard. Fewer than 20% of staff agreed that all of the organisation’s important safety functions were adequately covered. It said: “Significant staff reductions … have led in some cases to insufficient access to expertise.” .... “in all areas reviewed, there is evidence that the resources available … are at minimum levels. There is a general lack of resilience.” The CAA had failed on all the safety inspections and checks there should have been before the Shoreham air show disaster. The CAA is now having to deal with difficult public relations, in making changes to flight paths that can cause serious negative impacts on those overflown intensively.
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Liverpool airport wants to extend runway for some long-haul and transatlantic flights
Liverpool John Lennon Airport wants to extend its runway by 314 metres, so it can attract direct transatlantic flights, to try to more than double its passenger numbers. It has published another Master Plan (these are more wish lists to impress investors, rather than firm future plans!). The Plan is out to 2050 and has all sorts of optimistic aspirations. The airport wants to grow passengers numbers from 4.8 million per year today, to 11 million by 2050. To do that, they want to get direct links to many new destinations. The current runway is too short for even the newer smaller long-haul aircraft. The runway extension would take it to 2,600m length. They hope not only to have European flights, as now, but also flights to the USA and to the Middle East. There are the usual bits of hype about the number of jobs this would create and the economic benefits to the area. The reality is that most of the passengers would probably be going on holidays abroad, taking their holiday/leisure money out of the country. Liverpool hopes it can attract passengers who currently use Manchester, Heathrow, Gatwick and Birmingham airports. And Liverpool airport also wants to increase the amount of cargo it handles, which has been falling.
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No 10 admits Tories lack votes to push Heathrow runway through, after it is left out of Queen’s Speech
The Queen’s Speech made no mention of proposals to build new Heathrow runway. Indeed there was no mention of aviation at all. The Queen's Speech was intended to set out the programme of the government for two years, and was hugely weaker than it would have been, if the Conservatives had won a majority in the June general election. If they had, they would have pushed the manifesto intention of getting the runway built. Downing Street later said Theresa May remained committed to holding a Commons vote on the Heathrow NPS, but there is now serious doubt they could push it through without a majority. Now the most controversial Tory plans have had to be dropped, in Mrs May’s bid to get her legislative programme through the Commons. Tory whips have warned that as many as 40 Tory MPs could vote against Heathrow runway plans over concerns about noise and the environmental impact on their constituencies. The vote on the Heathrow NPS was likely to be a free vote, due to the known opposition of senior ministers, Boris Johnson and Justine Greening. Labour’s position on Heathrow is unclear, but John McDonnell and London Mayor Sadiq Khan are strongly opposed to it. Jeremy Corbyn is himself opposed, and it is likely that Labour will now oppose the runway plans, to force an embarrassing defeat on the Government.
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Mayor of London publishes draft Transport strategy for consultation – not in favour of Heathrow runway
The Mayor of London has published his draft Transport strategy for consultation. It states: "A three-runway Heathrow, however, would have severe noise and air quality impacts and put undue strain on the local public transport and road networks, and alternative airport expansion options should be considered. London’s growth is important, and it must be made to work for all of the city’s current and future residents." And Policy 20: "The Mayor will continue to oppose expansion of Heathrow airport unless it can be shown that no new noise or air quality harm would result and the benefits of future regulatory and technology improvements would be fairly shared with affected communities. Any such expansion must also demonstrate how the surface access networks will be invested in to accommodate the resultant additional demand alongside background growth." Also Proposal 96: "The Mayor will seek a commitment from Government to fund and deliver within an appropriate timescale the extensive transport measures required to support the expansion of Heathrow." The consultation closes on 2nd October 2017. It can be found here. People responding do not have to answer every question, but can say if they agree or disagree, and whether the Mayor should consider other aspects.