THERE'S MORE TO AIRPORTS POLICY THAN RUNWAYS, SAY REGIONAL PLANNERS

THE GOVERNMENT NEEDS TO RECOGNISE THAT THE DEVELOPMENT OF AIR TRANSPORT IN THE SOUTH EAST OVER THE NEXT THIRTY YEARS is not just about building new runways. This is the message from the South East England Regional Assembly's Planning Committee.

The Committee is responsible for advising the Assembly as a whole on all matters relating to its function as regional planning body for the South East and met recently to consider the second edition of the Government's consultation document, 'The Future Development of Air Transport in the United Kingdom: South East'. The Assembly submitted a response to the Government on the first edition in November last year.

The Regional Planning Committee has advised the Assembly to make the following recommendations to Government:

1. The Government should review its forecast of 300 million passengers per annum in 2030. Further Assembly analysis, since its original submission to Government, has shown that a forecast of 240 million passengers per annum would be more robust in the wider context of the need to adapt to a more sustainable pattern of travel and development.
   
   
2. The Government needs to encourage a more balanced development of airports throughout the country - too much emphasis has been put on South East airports and not enough on those in regions outside the wider South East. This would fit well with the Government's wider policy of balancing regional development.
   
   
3. Some increase in airport capacity in the wider South East appears justified but only requires the initial provision of a single runway.
   
   
4. The Assembly remain strongly opposed to additional runways at Heathrow and any airport development at Cliffe.
   
   
5. The legal agreement at Gatwick to 2019 should be honoured.
   
   
6. Stansted is the most suitable site for a new single runway. If, after 2020, it is demonstrated that a further new runway is required, the options should be either a further runway at Stansted or a close parallel runway at Gatwick.
   
   
7. The air industry needs to meet its full costs, including the environmental ones and that process need to begin now, with the introduction of economic instruments as proposed in a recent Government consultation.
   
   
8. The blight implications of safeguarding for possible new runway development must be recognised and adequate compensation must be paid to those who are affected.

Cllr Keith Mitchell, Chairman of the Regional Planning Committee said: "It is vital that Government gets the message that simply building more runways in the South East to handle the predicted increase in air travel over the next 30 years is not a sustainable solution. We need to make better use of the airports we already have and to adopt a more sustainable approach to air travel and its growth. The Government has abandoned "predict and provide" for land-based transport; it is time for the Government to think hard about applying modest demand management principles to air-based travel."

The Assembly will be meeting in full to agree its formal response to this consultation document on 23 July in Reading.

Contact

Lesley van Dijk, PR Executive - 01483 555223

Alex Butlin, PR Executive - 01483 555221

Notes to editors:

1. The Regional Assembly is the “voluntary regional chamber” for the South East. It was established in January 1999 to give a representative voice to the South East region which covers Berkshire, Buckinghamshire, East and West Sussex, Hampshire, Isle of Wight, Kent, Oxfordshire, and Surrey.
2. The Assembly is made up of 111 members including elected councillors nominated by the region’s local authorities and 37 representatives from other sectors of the community (including business, trades unions, education, housing, health, sports, culture, tourism, faith groups, environmental, community and voluntary organisations).
3. The Assembly has three areas of core business:
1. It is the representative voice of the South East, engaging and representing its member organisations and, through them, the wider public.
2. The Assembly has a specific role under the Regional Development Agencies' Act 1998 to ensure the accountability of the South East England Development Agency (SEEDA) to the region.
3. The Assembly has been the Regional Planning Body for the South East since April 2001. It has responsibility for proposing strategic planning and transport policies to Government.

Last updated: 21 August 2007