Minutes of the External Advisory Group, 16 July 2007

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Minutes of the External Advisory Group, Aviation White Paper, held on 16 July 2007 in Great Minster House

Attendees:  Jonathan Moor (Chair) - DfT, John Parkinson – DfT, Martin Capstick – DfT, Lucy Gordon – DfT, Dipak Valand – DfT, Avril Huston – DfT, Paul Ellis- BA, Sarah Samuels – SDC, Tim Johnson – AEF, Andrew Draycott – DHL, Owen Simon – CBI, Helen Neal - Virgin, Sarah Brookes – MAG, Tabitha Stebbings – BAA, Robert Siddall – AOA, Simon Evans – AUC, Nic Ferriday – FoE, Jim Bailey – SASIG, Anna Mahoney – SASIG, Ken Crawford -  SE, Mike Carrivick – BAR-UK  

Apologies: Eddie Redfern - Charter Airlines Group, Roger Wiltshire – BATA, Victoria Mayo - DfT

Introduction

Jonathan Moor, DfT Director of Airports Strategy, welcomed everyone to the ninth meeting of the External Advisory Group (EAG). He noted that, since the Group had last met in November 2006, there had been significant changes in the Department, including a new ministerial team, a new Permanent Secretary and a restructuring of the Department to reflect the priorities for transport identified by Eddington.

Update since publication of the Air Transport White Paper Progress Report

Jonathan Moor and John Parkinson, DfT Head of Airports Policy, updated the Group on key developments made since the publication of the ATWP Progress Report in December 2006. The update covered airport capacity and operation, industry and passengers, regulatory issues, and the environment.

Ken Crawford, Scottish Executive, mentioned that there had also been changes to the government in Scotland, and the new administration is reviewing the policies, in particular the Edinburgh Air Rail Link. EARL Bill would be considered by the Scottish Parliament in the autumn.

Paul Ellis, BA, asked about the status of the South East Airspace Study (SEAS). Jonathan Moor confirmed that a joint DfT, CAA and NATS working group had been set up to consider the options on this. NATS was currently scoping the options for SEAS and was due to report back in the autumn. SEAS would be aimed at developing a long-term strategy for airspace. 

Planning Reform White Paper

Avril Huston presented the main proposals in the Planning Reform White Paper, published in May 2007, and the implications for aviation. She explained the proposed planning requirement for national policy statements to be developed for major national infrastructure, including airports. She also set out the role of the proposed Infrastructure Planning Commission. The Group were encouraged to respond to the consultation, before the closing date of 17 August 2007. Responses should be sent to the Department for Communities and Local Government. Avril agreed to circulate, via Dipak Valand, further details about responding to the consultation. She also invited EAG members to contact her individually if they wanted to discuss further any aspects of the planning proposals.

The Group welcomed the opportunity of responding to the consultation. However, prior to Avril Huston's presentation to them, there had mixed awareness among the Group of the Planning Reform White Paper and the consultation. Jonathan Moor agreed that in future, the Department for Transport would aim to ensure that all EAG members were made aware of significant proposals initiated by other government departments, which affected air transport.

Eddington and International Networks

Jonathan Moor gave a brief presentation of the key findings of The Eddington Transport Study (December 2006), which had examined the long-term links between transport and the UK's economic productivity, growth and stability, within the context of the Government's broader commitment to sustainable development. Jonathan also explained how the Department for Transport was responding to the study's main recommendations that (i) the Government should focus policy and sustained investment on improving the performance of existing networks, in those places that are important for the UK’s economic success and (ii) Over the next 20 years, the three strategic economic priorities for transport policy should be: congested and growing city catchments; and key inter-urban corridors and international gateways that are showing signs of increasing congestion and unreliability. The formal Government response to Eddington would be published in the autumn. The main area of interest to aviation stakeholders would be the proposals on international networks which would include surface access links to airports.

Environmental Issues

Martin Capstick, DfT Head of Aviation and the Environment, provided an update on the key areas of progress on work relating to aviation and the environment. The main issues included:

  • Committee on Aviation Environmental Protection (CAEP) meeting held in February 2007
  • The Emissions Cost Assessment 
  • The ANASE study (Attitudes to Noise from Aviation Sources in the England)
  • The Climate Change Bill

The Group asked several questions about the scope of the Emissions Cost Assessment (ECA). Martin Capstick clarified that it would use evidence about actual emissions rather than forecasts, and would be repeated at regular intervals to allow trends to be identified. A consultation on the ECA would be published later in the summer, and the Group members would then have the opportunity to respond to specific proposals for the ECA.

The Future of the EAG and Terms of Reference (ToR)

The Group agreed the draft ToR which had been circulated prior to the meeting. They agreed that the Group should meet twice a year and as and when issues arise would organise additional meetings and or events. The Group made the following suggestions for future meetings:

  • Emissions forecasts, including the Technical Report on Passenger Forecasts and CO2 emissions which the Department was due to publish later in the year.
  • Airport capacity, particularly progress on delivering the Air Transport White Paper's objectives for capacity, looking at issues such as slot allocation and Heathrow development
  • The Air Transport White Paper Evaluation Strategy
  • The Heathrow consultation

The Group was invited to send any further suggestions of topics to Dipak Valand. Regarding EAG membership, Jim Bailey (SASIG) suggested that the EAG might wish to consider inviting a local government representative to join the Group to ensure that community interests were sufficiently represented on the Group, given the importance of local issues in airport development. This was agreed if a suitable person could be identified to represent the wider local government community.

DV 17 August 2007