20/3/2008

Local News in Aldershot

Airport looks at raising the cap on its flights

Farnborough Airport bosses are planning a campaign to host even more flights after winning approval to double weekend take-offs and landings.

Last week, the government finally announced that TAG Aviation, the company that owns and operates the airport, could increase the number of weekend flights from 2,500 to 5,000 a year.

The decision, made jointly by the secretaries of state for local government, Hazel Blears, and transport, Ruth Kelly, overturns a June 2006 decision by Rushmoor Borough Council to block the move. It took almost two years for the issue to be resolved, involving applications for planning permission, appeals, public inquiries, government U-turns and delays.

The increase in the weekend flight allowance does not affect the total cap on flights at the airport, currently set at 28,000.

This week TAG said that people living around the airport and under its flight path will have a say on future expansion plans by this June in a public consultation.

The results will be used to create a “master plan” for the future of the airport, the company said, to be published later this year or early in 2009.

TAG chief executive Brandon O’Reilly said that the report — written by government-appointed planning inspector Ken Smith after a public inquiry — would form a cornerstone of the company’s future plans for expansion.

Mr O’Reilly said. “Through the report there is a particularly strong emphasis that there are very substantial economic benefits brought by the airport. That is a very important statement they make, along with the statement that there is no demonstrable harm to the area.

“Great heed is put with the Airports White Paper of 2003 and 2006 saying that the best use of existing infrastructure should be made.”

The inspector’s report said approving the extra weekend flights would not significantly damage the lives of nearby residents, but Mr O’Reilly added that TAG would still try to reduce noise disturbance wherever it could.

“The airport is a quieter place than it used to be,” the TAG chief executive said. “But we should be mindful that some people are more affected by noise than others.

“We are demonstrating we take noise very seriously. We should do everything possible to push the boundaries and try to reduce noise further.”

The government’s decision means the consultation on the master plan would begin before the end of June, Mr O’Reilly said.

“We can now move on responsibly to ensure that we can make best use of our infrastructure,” he added.

“We realise the economic benefits but we will do our best to make sure there is no demonstrable harm to the surrounding area.

“We are finalising the public consultation document. We will get the feedback from that and see what the community have got to say.”

The master plan should be published in draft form later this year or early in 2009, the TAG boss said.

Mr O’Reilly has said TAG will look to apply for a new planning limit, based on the maximum possible capacity that air safety, runway capacity, air pollution and noise disturbance would allow.

Chairman of Farnborough Airport Residents’ Association Geoff Marks said: “The most disappointing thing about the inspector’s report is that he has been dismissive regarding our claim that weekend noise is particularly intrusive. Neither does he accept that the visual impact of aircraft in the take-off or landing phase is a key issue.”

Mr Marks, of the Sycamores, Farnborough, added that a legal agreement should be put in place assure residents the airport could not expand beyond an agreed limit.

“A lesson we must learn from this decision is that planning conditions can be easily overturned,” he said.

Some residents have expressed their support for the government’s decision, including Brian Oliver, who spoke in favour of the expansion at the public inquiry.

He told the News that he welcomed the government’s decision.

“I am glad that the planning inspector has agreed with TAG,” said Mr Oliver, of Stuart Close, Farnborough.

“I was concerned at the loss of businesses and important international firms that would move out of the area because they need the extra weekend flights.

“International business is a 24-hours-a-day, seven-days-a- week operation, so we can’t just stop after five days.”

Mr Oliver said a thriving airport was better for the area than another huge housing development that would put more pressure on schools, health facilities, and traffic congestion.

“If the government had turned this down it would have been terrible for Farnborough as a whole,” he said.  “It is not only vital for businesses, but what would the council decide to do with it if the airport moved out? It would not be left as an open space.”

James Page, a Green Party activist who works at Nokia in Farnborough, said the decision was “depressing” and showed the government was not serious on tackling climate change.

“The inspector shows how increasing the number of weekend flights would mean the airport reaches its 28,000 limit sooner, and they are already champing at the bit to have the overall limit increased,” Mr Page said.

“It sends out the message the rich and famous can fly as much as they like, whenever they like. This is a depressing decision and it doesn’t bode well at all for the [government’s decision on whether to allow a] third runway at Heathrow.

See page 3 for a look back at the public inquiry. For your views on the decision see page 10 of the Aldershot News.

First printed in: Aldershot News and Mail