TDC Airport Working Party

Marvellously convenient, and doubtless falling into an empty slot in your diary, the Airport Working Party will be re-convening their hastily cancelled meeting from last year. This will be happening on Thursday 20th January at 10:30am, in the Pugin & Rossetti Rooms, Cecil Street, Margate, Kent. Like I say - handy.

Special guest stars will be Bureau Veritas, the world famous sound consultants whose role in the unfolding drama appears to be that of the rain on Infratil's parade. BV's report, which had to be re-drafted a couple of times before being accepted by TDC, did not go down at all well with our chums on the tarmac at Kent's Irrational Airport. An embarrassing spotlight was focused on the typos in Infratil's proposal that skewed the story in their favour; the need to sound-proof Ramsgate was raised; and some crushing killer blows were landed:

the predicted number of people likely to be exposed to significant levels of average night-time noise is not sufficiently justified by the number of passengers and freight activity that are forecast to benefit from the proposals [i.e. it's not worth it.]

By all accounts, Infratil are still somewhat shaken, not to say battered, by the report and have been conspicuously silent since, which is rather surprising given that their entire future hangs on this, if they are to be believed. Anyway, as you can see from the Agenda below, Bureau Veritas will be there in the flesh to explain their report, and quite possibly answer questions from the AWP. A lot could turn on this, so be there if you can - and, following local tradition, do wear something red if you're against night flights.

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MANSTON AIRPORT NIGHT NOISE ASSESSMENT REVIEW - BUREAU VERITAS REPORT

To:                               Airport Working Party – 20 January 2011

Main Portfolio Area:     Economic Prosperity & Community Services

By:                               Environmental Protection Manager

Classification:              Unrestricted

Wards                          All

Summary                    Proposed night-time flying policy for Manston Airport, presentation by Bureau Veritas of its Manston Airport Night Noise Assessment Review dated November 2010

For Decision

1.0              Introduction and background

1.1       On 13 October, 2010, this Working Party received a report regarding the proposed Night-time Flying Policy application, made by Infratil, the owner of Manston Airport, on 28^th September, 2010.  The application was made within the context of the s.106 Planning Agreement between the Council and the owner of the airport.  The application was accompanied by a technical report produced by Bickerdike Allen Partners, titled Manston Airport Night Noise Contours Integrated Noise Model (INM).  Previously the application and noise report from Bickerdike Allen have been made available to Members.

1.2       Following from recommendations from this Working Party, and discussions with others including Canterbury City Council and Kent County Council, a programme of public engagement was produced.  However, it was considered inappropriate and unacceptable to commence consultation until the Council had commissioned its own, professional, technical assessment of the noise implications of the proposal made by Infratil.

1.3       Hence the report from Bureau Veritas has been produced, alongside a glossary of terms, to help the public understand, and interpret both the Bickerdike Allen and Bureau Veritas reports.

2.0       The Current Position

2.1       The Bureau Veritas report is attached at Annex 1.

2.2       Bureau Vertias will be attending the meeting to present the content of the report. There will be the opportunity for the Members to ask questions.

2.3       This meeting enables Members of the Working Party to receive information, which alongside the Working Party’s previous reports and in the context of visits being arranged to both East Midlands and Robin Hood (Doncaster) Airports will enable it to recommend a set of criteria against which any future application for night-time flying policy at Manston could be considered.

2.4       It is suggested that the working party develop a concept of appropriate consultation criteria that describe the threshold that will need to be reached before the council contemplates further public consultation on this issue. These criteria once agreed can then be recommended to the Overview and Scrutiny Panel for comment, and ultimately to Cabinet. Full Council will then be in a position to formally set the necessary criteria. Should Infratil wish to submit a night-time flying application this will be made the subject of a twelve week public consultation process, as previously proposed.

3.0       Options

3.1       The Working Party is obliged to report back to Overview and Scrutiny within the framework of the annual work plan of the Overview and Scrutiny Panel 2010/2011.

4.0       Corporate Implications

4.1.      Financial

4.1.1.   Council has set aside funding for both the Bureau Veritas report and, in due course, engagement of a public consultation consultancy. Contributions to funding have been committed by Kent County Council and Canterbury City Council.

4.2.      Legal

4.2.1.   The existing s.106 Agreement between the Council and the Airport Owner enables the Airport Owner to submit an application for a night-time flying policy.

4.3.      Corporate

4.3.1.   Growth of business, and employment at the airport is an important strand of the Council’s strategic approach to economic regeneration.  However, the Council has already made it clear that this must not be at the expense of unacceptable environmental impact.  In particular noise.

4.4.      Equity and Equalities

4.4.1.   In the opinion of the author there are no direct equity and equalities implications to this report.

5.0       Recommendation

5.1       That the Working Party receives the report and presentation from Bureau Veritas, in order that it can receive information contributing to a set of criteria the Airport Owner will be required to satisfy, at such time as a further application for a night-time flying policy.

6.0       Decision-making Process

6.1        The Airport Working Party makes recommendations to the Overview and Scrutiny Panel who in turn make recommendations to Cabinet and or Council

Contact Officer:	Penny Button - Tel: (01843)  (57)7425
Reporting to:	Madeline Homer, Interim Director of Community Services

Annex List

Annex 1	Bureau Veritas report
Annex 2	Manston INM Contour Comparison Map
Annex 3	Manston Airport Glossary of Terms

 Corporate consultation undertaken

Finance	Sarah Martin
Legal	Harvey Patterson