The
May 2016 AirportWatch news bulletin is now at
AirportWatch
Bulletin for May
2016Plenty has been
going on, relating to UK aviation, since the last
bulletin 6 weeks ago. There is lots more in the
bulletin itself, but here are a few updates and links:
London Mayor: Well, we
have got through the London Mayoral election - so that's
one political diversion out of the way. While
sincerely hoping that Sadiq Khan's period as Mayor is a
successful one, some concerns in relation to airports
were raised within his first few days in
power.
Having been elected on 5th May, by 10th
May Sadiq had announced that he would drop the GLA
objection to a Compulsory Purchase Order of 26.4
hectares of Royal Docks Land, owned by City Hall, and
needed by London City airport for its expansion plans.
The final public inquiry on that ended today, and the
results will not be known for a couple of months.
However, the final decision on the expansion plans rests
- not with Sadiq - but with the Planning Inspector, who
will make a recommendation to both Transport Secretary
Patrick McLoughlin and Communities Secretary Greg
Clark.
It was also announced that Sadiq would be
appointing Lord Andrew Adonis, a long term advocate of
expanding Heathrow, to run transport in London.
Lord Adonis also heads the government’s National
Infrastructure Commission, which is keen on building a
great deal over the coming
decades.
Government Runway
Announcement: There is still no certainty
about when the government will make an announcement on
where (or if) there will be a new runway. There is
speculation that there still might be an announcement
after the EU Referendum on 23rd June, before Parliament
goes into recess on 21st July. However, a
lot of government business has been piling up, and will
need action in the one month, between Refendum and
recess. The government may have more pressing
matters to decide. Or it could be a good time for
the proverbial "burying of bad news."
Another
possibility is in the brief period between the 5th and
the 15th September, when Parliament briefly
returns, before breaking again for the party conference
season.
With the media and most MPs focusing on
the EU referendum to the virtual exclusion of much else,
Heathrow and Gatwick have had a bit of trouble getting
themselves into the forefront of politicians' attention.
Heathrow's offers, to try to persuade
the government its environmental problems are
solved: Heathrow has come up with a small
number of proposals, in a letter to David Cameron,
attempting to give the impression that the problems of
noise, night flights, and air pollution that would be
created by a 3rd runway, are solved. You would
have to be quite naive, or born yesterday, to really
believe the commitments. Many are very carefully
worded, to mislead the unwary. Many commentators
have been less than convinced by Heathrow's
offerings. ClientEarth said they were
"underwhelmed"; Lord True, the Leader of Richmond
Council, described the offering on night flights as
"worthless," and a "feeble attempt to bribe
London." On their air pollution offering,
his opinion was: “They cannot comply with EU air quality
limits and their ‘jam’ promises are worthless…..if
people’s health comes first – big Heathrow is dead in
the water.”
There is much more in the bulletin, on
the various commitments Heathrow has come up
with.
What is Heathrow really saying, on night
flights? What is Heathrow really saying on air
pollution? http://www.airportwatch.org.uk/?p=30742
Carbon emissions:
There was, of course, no Heathrow commitment on carbon
emissions. How could there be? The
Government realises that there is a real problem in
working out how to deal with aviation CO2, with no
effective policy in place and with the Airports
Commission passing the buck back to the
government. A well argued paper, by the AEF
(Aviation Environment Federation) shows that the need to
take climate change seriously rules out any new runway –
at Heathrow or at Gatwick. A new runway means
storing up unnecessary problems, of high carbon
emissions, in future. More at
http://www.airportwatch.org.uk/?p=30593
and the AEF paper (12 pages) is at
http://tinyurl.com/AEF-Climate-AviationICAO:
The Government has high hopes that there will,
very conveniently, be a great international agreement by
ICAO in October, finding an acceptable way to control
global CO2 emissions from aviation. However, talks
have not gone well. All rather dry stuff, but
there is a little about it at
http://www.airportwatch.org.uk/?p=30812 Creative
campaigns: Over the past 6 weeks, campaigning
was no less bold, creative and colourful than
usual. HACAN and Heathrow campaigners took a van,
with huge loudspeakers blasting out aircraft noise every
minute or so - at realistic volume - to Smith Square.
That is the location of Europe House, and the protest
was to mark International Noise Awareness Day - and the
fact that already about 28% of the people who are
affected by aircraft noise right across Europe live
under the Heathrow flight paths. A 3rd runway
would make that even worse. The van making its
horrible racket then drove, roughly along the course of
the 3rd runway approach flight path, back to
Heathrow. Details at
http://www.airportwatch.org.uk/?p=30466To
mark the first anniversary of this Government being in
power, and the fact it has gone backwards on climate
change, there was a "Going Backwards" march, from
Trafalgar Square to Downing Street, down
Whitehall. Backwards. There was a good
turnout by aviation protesters, with suitable placards
and large black "No New Runways" plane as a prop.
Pictures etc at
http://www.airportwatch.org.uk/?p=30669Air
pollution: There has been a lot in the
news about air quality, in all sorts of ways. The
very real threat to peoples' health, from
breathing in higher than necessary levels of pollutants
- and NO2 in particular - is really troubling
people. With increasing awareness of the health
implications, and impacts on the lungs of children,
people have woken up to this issue. There is now a JAQU
(Joint Air Quality Unit), set up by Defra and DfT, in
order to deliver national plans to cut NO2 levels.
There is also a new All Party Parliamentary Group on air
pollution. These are useful, as ClientEarth has
been granted permission to take the UK government back
to court, over its failure to tackle illegal levels of
air pollution. At the end of April, a judge at the High
Court granted their request to pursue a Judicial Review
against Defra. ClientEarth say the plans the
government came up with in December are inadequate, and
have asked judges to strike down those plans,order new
ones and intervene to make sure the government
acts. Either a runway at Heathrow, or at Gatwick,
would unavoidably increase local levels of
NO2.
Research and reports:
There have been many well written, well researched and
well analysed reports produced over the past 6 weeks or
so. The AEF has produced theirs on carbon emissions, and
also another on biofuels and their likely role. There is
a report on the impact of Scotland cutting APD.
A
whole series or research studies have been produced by
GACC (the Gatwick Area Conservation Campaign).
The list can be found at
http://www.gacc.org.uk/research-studies.php
and there are more to come. The GACC studies
published so far are on:
Ambient
Noise Paying for a new Gatwick
runway Gatwick airport and how it avoids paying
corporation tax Climate change and a new
runway Crawley urbanisation
Gatwick landscape
and also a paper on air pollution at
Gatwick, by
CAGNE
ASA on Heathrow:
The Advertising Standards Authority have
found, yet again, that one of Heathrow's adverts was
misleading and its claim should not be allowed.
"Back Heathrow", the astroturfing campaign paid for and
run by the airport, purporting to represent ordinary
residents, put out an advert claiming that 60% backed
the 3rd runway. They had arrived at this number by
removing, conveniently, the 15% sampled who did not
express a preference. The ASA did not believe this
unusual use of statistics was permissible. Details
at http://www.airportwatch.org.uk/?p=30423
One of Gatwick's adverts, making
untrue statements about air quality, has also been
reported to the ASA. Outcome awaited.
CAA airspace change consultation:
The CAA is currently carrying out a
consultation on how it carries out the process of
airspace change in future, called CAP 7725. This ends on
15th June. T
here will then be
another CAA consultation, at an unknown date, about
their proposed new CAP 725 document. This is
likely to be some time by the end of 2016.
The CAA will then
publish their new CAP 725, with the new regulations on
how airspace changes must be made, probably by April
2017.DfT noise
consultation: The current CAA consultation is
about the process of airspace change,
and not about the changes themselves. It is not
determining questions like who should be over-flown, and
when, and how much. It is not about the policy on
aircraft noise, which will be for the DfT
consultation. The DfT will hold a formal
consultation on changes to the noise elements of the
Aviation Policy Framework, and the principles behind
changes to flight paths – some time in /after summer
2016, “to coincide with a further announcement on runway
capacity in the south east” ie. after a runway
decision. Probably 2nd half of 2016.
Probably. It will
deliberately be
after a runway location
decision.
So that means before there is a proper
DfT aviation policy, the government will already have
decided:
a. that there will be a new
runway
b. that there will be a large number of
additional flights
c. that somehow the policy on
noise will be adapted to fit that.
d. it will
consult, but the main decision will be made -
respondents can only discuss details
It will be
much the same on aviation carbon emissions, except
that there is not even any plan at this stage, for any
consultation on that.
NPS
consultation: There will need to be a
consultation, fairly soon after the government runway
announcement, by the DfT on a draft National Policy
Statement (NPS) on aviation. It is anticipated
that this document will have already decided on a runway
location, with the rest of the policy fitting around
that. The DfT is currently working on the draft
NPS.
So, here is what is in the May
2016 bulletinhttp://www.airportwatch.org.uk/wp-content/uploads/AirportWatch-bulletin-86-18.5.2016.pdfCONTENTSPage
1
- Heathrow makes guarded, carefully worded, offers
to meet Airports Commission conditions for 3rd
runway
- Heathrow’s vague proposal on air pollution –
what is Heathrow really saying?
Page 2
-
Heathrow’s vague proposal on air pollution – what is
Heathrow really saying?
- Heathrow’s vague proposal
on air pollution – what is Heathrow really
saying?
Page 3
- Lord True, Richmond Council
leader and Conservative peer, describes Heathrow
promises as ‘worthless’ and asks David Cameron to deny
expansion immediately
- Whitehall logjam of work due
to EU vote could push runway decision back to
September
Page 4
- Runway location decision to
be made BEFORE there is a proper UK aviation policy
-
Heathrow anti-3rd runway campaigners play aircraft noise
in Central London to mark International Noise Awareness
Day
Page 5
- Teddington Action Group find
evidence of slower rates of climb of large planes from
Heathrow
- Willie Walsh will fight Heathrow runway,
due to cost - content with 3 hub system for IAG
instead
- 2nd runway at Dublin airport threatens
Heathrow’s position as main IAG hub
Page 6
-
Emirates expects reducing demand for domestic flights to
Heathrow, as regional airports increase long-haul
routes
- “No New Runways” message clear at “Going
Backwards on Climate” march
Page 7
- Three
Plane Stupid activists – the Tunnel Trio – sentenced to
£305 fines each for blocking Heathrow tunnel in
November
- Willie Walsh says “Heathrow Hub” runway
option should be considered again, as cheaper
- While
Heathrow try to claim cost of surface access just £2.2
billion, TfL estimates cost of £18.4 billion
Page
8
- Advertising Standards Authority rules against
misleading “Back Heathrow” ad claiming 60% support for
runway
- Research paper done for GACC shows the
techniques Gatwick uses to pay no UK corporation
tax
Page 9
- New GACC research paper indicates
higher Gatwick charges for runway could lead to
airlines moving to other airports
- Gatwick Chairman
confirms no public disclosure of flight paths until
after the public consultation of the Gatwick Arrivals
Review closes
- Luton plans light rail link to speed
transport, making it a stronger competitor against
Gatwick
Page 10
- Judge gives ClientEarth
permission to pursue a JR against UK government over air
quality
- All Party Parliamentary Group on Air
Pollution set up, as greatly increased interest in air
quality by MPs
- Defra and DfT set up JAQU (Joint Air
Quality Unit) to deliver national plans to cut NO2
levels
Page 11
- After just a few days as
Mayor, Sadiq Khan drops GLA objection to compulsory
purchase of land for London City Airport expansion
-
BA warns London City Airport not to raise landing
charges, or it might pull out
- Recent opponent of
Heathrow runway, Sadiq Khan, appoints pro-Heathrow
runway, Lord Adonis on transport
Page 12
-
Transport Select Committee wants rapid decision on
runway location – then sort out the problems later
…..
- Residents in Heathrow villages say airport
failing to tackle nightmare of parking by private hire
vehicles
Page 13
- AEF research sets out
clearly how the need to take climate change seriously
rules out any new UK runway
- ICAO aviation offset
market talks yield little progress, but backtracking on
previous agreement
- Some news stories in brief:
- CAA gives approval to new PBN flight path from
Birmingham airport to the south
- Birmingham gets
weekly flights to Beijing and Hangzhou with Beijing
Capital Airlines
- Farmer at Stansted still awaiting
compensation, due to airport loophole of not completing
all work – to avoid paying
- Assessment of proposal
to cut APD by 50% in Scotland shows likely overall fall
in revenue
- New briefing from AEF explains position
with UK aviation use of biofuels, and the Renewable
Transport Fuels Obligation issue
- National Audit
Office sustainability overview of DfT – critical on
aviation carbon emissions
Bulletin at
May 2016
AirportWatch BulletinAnd
a nice note to finish on. John Stewart, who has
fought road building, noise of all sorts, and the
expansion of Heathrow for years, was awarded the Sheila
McKechnie Long Term Achievement Award.
http://www.smk.org.uk/campaigners-award/
John has been an environmental campaigner since
the 1980’s and was a key figure in several successful
campaigns against major road expansions in the 1980’s
and 90’s. In the 1990’s John became - and
remains - a central figure in campaigns to halt
the environmental damage caused by the aviation
industry, as Chair of Hacan for many years. He
chaired a diverse coalition of campaigners that defeated
the government’s plans for a third runway at
Heathrow. In 2008 John was voted the most
effective environmentalist, by the Independent on
Sunday.
A richly deserved award.
Well done, John. And keep at it!
Any
feedback, news, comments etc very welcome - on anything
in the bulletin, or matters in general.
Kind
regards
Sarah Clayton
AirportWatch
co-ordinator
www.airportwatch.org.uk
Email:
in...@airportwatch.org.ukTwitter
@AirportWatchFacebook
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